Country Roads (Take Me Home)
by LemonStar
Summary: "Fifty Four Days" World. "I just want to see it," Beth shakes her head. "I can't… even if people have ransacked it, and I'm sure, by now, there's nothing useful left, there will still be things that no one would want. Pictures of my family, personal things… I want those things, Rosita. I'm the… I'm the only one left," she then whispers, her tears nearly flooding over.
1. Chapter 1

…

When the twins were four, Jack got sick; really sick. And in such isolation on their mountain, they were used to common colds and sinuses, but few illnesses too serious. When Jack got as sick as he did, they were all terrified because _how_ did he get so sick and was this _the_ sickness?

Thankfully, it hit in the winter and they were able to pack snow all around him to fight his fever and with willow bark tea Beth held to his lips, helping him swallow it down, they were able to get his fever down after a day and night of no sleep. And even after the fever was broken and he seemed to be coming out on the other side, still alive, the whole family was still terrified.

"Maybe he got bit by somethin'," Daryl thought and even though they checked every inch of him and couldn't find any kind of bug bite – and in the winter, how would he had been bitten by a bug? – that seemed to be the only kind of explanation that made any kind of sense.

It took a couple of weeks for Jack to be fully recovered, but afterwards, Beth and Daryl – and everyone – noticed the slightest difference in him; something that none of Beth's tonics or plants could cure. Afterwards, Jack's energy was never what it could have been. While all of the other kids – including his twin sister, Ceci – raced around, doing farm chores and playing like the kids they were, Jack could join them for a few hours, but by one or two o'clock in the afternoon, he was completely wiped out.

Daryl, Beth and the others could only assume that wherever the fever had come from, it had left something behind that they couldn't see without an MRI so everyone in the family did what they always did. They learned and adjusted and knew that Jack had to get things done in the morning before his energy was rock bottom in the afternoon.

And because of Jack's energy level, it's why the plan is to head out even before the sun is fully risen in the morning. The sooner they can head out, the more distance they can cover.

Beth wakes Eli, Cecily and Jack up when it's still dark outside and makes sure everyone washes their faces, brushes their teeth and empties their bladders in their bathroom bucket before she begins going through their clothes.

"Remember," Beth tells them. "It might be a bit warmer in the afternoons, but it's still cold in the mornings and at night so wear layers."

"Mom," Eli sighs with the impatience of a twelve-year-old who obviously feels like he doesn't need his mom to tell him such things. "We can dress ourselves."

"Yes, you can, but that doesn't mean I'm letting you leave until I approve of what you're wearing," Beth quips back and ignores Eli's heavy sigh as he turns to the chest on the floor at the foot of the bed where all of his clothes are kept.

_That_ age, as Rosita likes to say when Aiden, and brief moments with Bee, has a slight attitude.

"These, mama?" Six-year-old Cecily asks, holding up her pair of earmuffs.

Beth smiles. "I don't think so, sweetie. It might be _too _warm in the afternoon for earmuffs." She turns and digs in the chest where Cecily and Jack's clothes are both kept. "This might be better," she then says, pulling out a black knit cap, and Cecily nods, smashing it down on her head with a smile, and Beth smiles, too.

"'member you all pack plenty of socks," Daryl says from across the room, arming himself with knives. "Don't care if you wear the same underwear, but you need to keep your feet dry."

Beth looks to their three kids. "You're bringing underwear, too."

"How long are we gonna be gone, mama?" Jack asks.

"I'm not sure, baby," Beth shakes her head. The night before, in the kitchen, she packed away enough food to last them for two weeks – two good meals a day – but even doing that, she had wondered if two weeks would last them.

Jack turns and digs around the trunk and then turns, holding every single pair of socks that he and Cecily own in his arms. Beth laughs lightly and nods.

"Good plan," she says and Jack turns to shove them all into his backpack.

She watches as the three kids pick the clothes they are going to wear today and then pack some more to take with them, overseeing, but letting them make their own decisions. She then looks over her shoulder to Daryl. And feeling her looking at him, Daryl moves his eyes to her and he gives her a small smile; a smile that Beth is able to give back to him.

"You sure about this?" Daryl had asked her the night before as they laid in their bed together.

"If you don't want to do this-"

"Stop," Daryl cut her off right there. "I've got no problem with goin'. I jus' wanted to make sure that this is somethin' you really want to do. I can go by myself and get what you want."

"Yes, because sending you away from home for a few weeks would really help me sleep at night," Beth retorted and Daryl smirked, lifting a hand to move a bit of hair from the side of her face. "I want to go and see it," she then said in a whisper. "I want to see if there's anything still there. I want the kids to see where I come from."

"I never got to see your bedroom in the farmhouse," Daryl said, more like he was thinking out loud to himself, and Beth smiled, a laugh slipping past her lips, and Daryl brought her in closer to him so he could reach her lips with his.

Once everyone is dressed and both Beth and Daryl look over what the kids are wearing and what they've packed, they head from their tree house, Beth pausing at the top of the stairs to look around the big room and to make sure that they haven't forgotten anything.

Over the past few years, Daryl has made a few changes to their tree house. He built stairs in lieu of a ladder and the first floor deck had been enclosed and insulated, making it a bedroom for him and Beth.

Up the stairs in the big room, Daryl has built the twins bunk beds into the wall and Eli has his own bed. They have a curtained-off section where they keep their wash tub, toilet bucket and wash basin for their body's needs. There is also a table and benches, their wood-burning stove, and counter-tops where Beth cooks or writes and the kids do their homework or play games. Glass and plastic jars line the shelves Daryl built for her, filled with all sorts of flower petals, leaves, roots, barks and spices – either used for cooking or medicine; Silly ceramic mugs that have been found over the years are situated on their very own shelf. They also have books that the main family cabin can't hold any longer; if their family has one thing in abundance of, it's books. There are two over-stuffed armchairs and a chess board set up on the table between them. Braided rugs are situated on the floors. The kids each have a heavy quilt on each of their beds, all folded neatly now. Eli has the garden gnome that his Uncle Glenn had given to Beth so many years ago and it now sits on the windowsill next to Eli's bed, watching over him as he sleeps.

There is only one photograph of the Dixon family – taken twelve years earlier when Eli had just been born on an old Polaroid camera that Beth and Daryl had found in someone's garage. The film had already been yellow with age and the camera had died for good not long after. The picture – Daryl and Beth in bed with newborn Eli in Beth's arms – is framed and hanging on the wall right at the top of the stairs. There are two other pictures framed – one Beth had taken of Daryl and one Daryl had taken of Beth when they had first found the camera all of that time ago.

If Beth thinks about it, she gets sad that Cecily and Jack will never be able to get their picture taken, but then she remembers that millions of others long before the world ended never got their picture taken and even now, in their family, besides Aiden and Eli, the other children don't have their pictures either.

"See you soon," Beth whispers to the room.

They are going back to the Greene family farm, yes, but that hasn't been home for so long. This, right here, is her home with Daryl and their children and this is the home she is going to miss and the home they will all be returning to once they finish with their journey.

Beth finally turns to head down the stairs and stops when she sees Daryl waiting at the bottom of them. He looks up at her and she looks down to him and she gives him a small smile. Daryl's own lips twitch a little, but it doesn't stay for long as he keeps looking at her.

"We'll be home 'fore you know it," he tells her as she comes down the stairs.

"I know," she nods and Daryl slides a hand onto the back of her neck and kisses her on the temple.

She doesn't doubt that they'll be home again. They're Daryl and Beth Dixon, after all, and they've made it this far.

…

Even though it's so early, the rest of the family is awake as well at this time to see the Dixon family off. With spring right around the corner, planting season will be upon them soon, but for now, the ground is still too hard to begin just yet and they're still working on their stores of food built up for the winter months.

"Green pepper omelets," Aaron tells Beth as she steps into the kitchen where he's already at the stove and Eli, Cecily and Jack are already sitting at the table, eating theirs. Aiden, Bee, Gracie and Carrie are also at the table, still half-asleep, eating omelets as well. It seems like Teddy, the baby, is still asleep in Spencer and Rosita's bedroom. No one would ever think to wake a sleeping baby.

"That sounds great, Aaron. Thank you," Beth smiles to him.

This past harvest, they had seen an overabundance of green peppers they had never had before and most of the winter had been spent, eating green peppers at least three times a week. By now, everyone was sick of the sight of them and certainly could hardly stomach them anymore, but they kept eating them. They wouldn't let any food go to waste – though the adults have pretended that they don't know that the kids have been feeding their livestock their portions of green peppers for the past couple of months.

Beth goes to the living room where the food she has packed away is set on the floor, waiting to be taken, and she kneels down, looking and going over it all again. She turns her head when Rosita kneels down next to her.

"I don't want you to go," Rosita whispers to her. "If something… we'll _never_ find out if anything happens to any of you and what would we do without you?"

Beth gives her closest friend a small smile and without a word, she pulls Rosita into a hug, Rosita hugging her tightly in response. After a minute, silently, they both pull apart.

"When me and Daryl first met you, you were going back home to Texas. Even though you had no idea if there was anything left, you still wanted to go home," Beth reminds her.

"And we lost Eric and my uncle…" Rosita exhales a shaky breath. "We never should have gone. What was left wasn't home anymore and I hate that _that_ is my last memory of it. We don't need anything. We have more than enough food and blankets and clothes…"

"I just want to see it," Beth shakes her head. "I can't… even if people have ransacked it, and I'm sure, by now, there's nothing useful left, there will still be things that no one would want. Pictures of my family, personal things… I want those things, Rosita. I'm the… I'm the only one left," she then whispers, her tears nearly flooding over from just saying that fact out loud.

Rosita looks like she's about to join in and cry, too, but she pulls Beth into another hug and this time, Beth is the one to hug her tightly; almost squeezing her too tightly.

"Beth, your omelet and the coffee are ready," Aaron calls quietly to her from the kitchen.

But Beth and Rosita keep hugging one another and don't make a move to break apart.

…

"Are you sure you don't want to take one of the donkeys and the cart?" Matt asks him for the third time.

And again, Daryl shakes his head. "I don't know what we're gonna to run into out there and if somethin' happens… I'm not losin' one of our donkeys." He rubs the snout of one of their grey donkeys, smiling a little as the animal munches on his breakfast of dried grass. "And the wagon should be big enough to hold our things we're bringin' with us and what we find and still have space in it for Jack when he gets tired in the afternoons. Eli and I can take turns pullin' it."

"And are you sure you have to do this?" Spencer asks from the stool he sits on, milking one of the goats.

Daryl doesn't hesitate in nodding this time. "Beth wants to do this and I'm goin' with her. And Cecily and Jack are six now. They need their trainin'."

Matt and Spencer don't say anything to that.

They rarely leave their mountain and runs are just as rare. They don't need to go one them as they used to. They have everything they need. As Beth likes to tell them all, what they need, their mountain provides. But just because they are in isolation – never seeing another human and seeing just a handful of walkers a week – none of the adults allow the children, for even a second, to forget what kind of world this is.

When Eli and Aiden were both younger and Bee was six, they had taken them on a run to a town; and the kids had wound up saving all of their asses when they had been ambushed. Cecily and Jack are six-years-old and this is a good age to get them out there and give them a bit of hands-on training, while silently hoping that they'll never have to actually use it.

In a couple of years, it will be Carrie and Gracie's turns and then Teddy's a few years after that.

The barn door opens and all three men turn their heads to see Anna step in, a big basket held with both arms. "You should have enough eggs to last you the next few days and since it's still cool out, they should be able to last without spoiling."

"Thanks, Anna," Daryl gives her a small smile. "Beth's packin' us enough food to keep us out there for weeks." He notes that Spencer, Matt and Anna all frown at that. "We'll be back as soon as we can," Daryl then promises them. "The farm actually isn' too far away from here. Maybe four days walk and then we'll spend a couple days there and then four days walk back here."

"Why are you doing this?" Matt is the one to ask. "I know," he then hurries to add. "Beth wants to go back, but why? Why now?"

Daryl is quiet for a moment and he rubs a hand on the donkey's snout again. "Eli… the older he gets, he's lookin' like me, but he's lookin' like Beth's brother, Shawn, too. It's makin' Beth ache when she notices more and more things about Eli that are like his uncle. Beth wants to go back to the farm so she can find some pictures. The kids have no idea what any of their family on that side looks like."

Anna, Matt and Spencer can easily all say the same thing. Anna and Matt's daughter, Carrie, and Spencer and Rosita's kids, Aiden, Bee and Teddy, have absolutely no idea what any of their family outside of this mountain looked like and somewhere away from here, in old houses in old towns and cities where they used to live, there are still the family pictures, dusting and fading away in albums, put away on shelves.

He wishes he had a picture of Merle – to both have for himself and to show the kids – but Daryl can't remember any Dixon family pictures in the first place.

But, besides Cecily and Jack needing to get out there and seeing this world past their mountain, Beth wants to do this and there's no way he won't do this for Beth.

"And last time I was there, 'fore the herd ran us off, I had a flannel shirt I really liked. Wanna see if it's still there," Daryl tells them with a small smile on his lips.

Spencer and Matt smile to themselves, too, and Anna sets the basket of eggs down before coming to Daryl, standing on her toes and wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. Daryl closes his eyes as he hugs her back just as tightly.

"'member how you were when Spencer, Rosita and Aaron found you and you first came to me and Beth?" Daryl asks her. "You were the toughest six-year-old I ever saw. I wan' my kids to be just like you."

Anna lets out a laugh at that, but it's mixed with a sob and then her body starts to shake as she cries into his shoulder, and Daryl keeps hugging her. Matt is looking down to the straw-covered floor, his fists clenching and unclenching, stopping himself from taking hold of Anna himself, and Spencer is staring down to the small bucket of milk he's filling. Both seem to be trying their hardest to hide their own thoughts and worries.

And just like he had said to Beth just a little bit earlier, Daryl promises the same thing to Anna now.

He knows making promises is useless and not to mention, just tempting the fates, but Daryl does it anyway because even though they may all know that promises shouldn't be made, that doesn't mean they don't want to hear them when they need to.

"We'll be home 'fore you know it."

…

* * *

**My 100th story on this site! Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review. This one is going to be around six chapters or so. **


	2. Chapter 2

…

"Apricots!" Cecily declares and then looks to Jack for his turn.

The boy takes a moment to think. "Boa Constrictor," he then decides.

It's Cecily's turn again and she thinks for a moment. "Coconut!"

"Are you just doin' food this time?" Daryl wonders.

"Def Leppard!" Jack then exclaims and that gets a bark of laughter out of Daryl and a laugh from Beth. Jack beams, proud of himself for saying something his parents found funny.

"Eskimos!" Cecily gives her next answer and again, Daryl and Beth laugh.

It's a game the twins play. Neither Daryl or Beth know which one thought of it first, but it's one of their favorite things to do; going down the alphabet, listing off things they've never seen or tasted and only know from books or old random items found in the old, falling-down houses and trailers scattered around.

"Fruit Loops!" is Eli's next letter.

They had started off that morning with Daryl leading and Beth and the twins walking together and Eli bringing up the rear, pulling the red wagon, as they made their way down the mountain. The twins had been buzzing with nervous excitement with each step they took, the ground slowly moving downwards, and when their feet finally touched the faded and cracked asphalt of the road for the first time, both had stopped and Beth and Daryl let them linger a moment as the twins bent down to touch it with bare hands. There are roads up in the mountains – this obviously wasn't the first paved road they had ever seen – but this was the first, off of their mountain.

The twins are six, but they have very much spent those six years in near-isolation. They have never left the mountain before and that is the way Daryl and Beth have wanted it. But as Daryl has said, the twins are six now and they have to start to learn the way of things _off_ of their mountain. The last thing Daryl and Beth or any of the others want the kids to be and that's naïve or ignorant to the world.

Sure enough, when the sun was directly over their head, Jack's energy began to wane, his steps slowing as his path began to grow crooked.

"Wanna hop in?" Daryl asked him.

"No," Jack immediately shook his head. "I can keep going."

"Come on," Daryl wouldn't hear it though and hefting Jack up, he set the boy down in the wagon along with the boxes and containers of food that have been packed to be brought with them for their journey.

And now, Daryl pulls the wagon as Cecily and Beth walk together and Eli leads the way. They walk on the curb so if they see anything coming down the road – person or walker – they'll be able to hide in the trees until it passes; or until it's close enough to kill them.

"Eli, you do G," Cecily all, but orders him.

Eli thinks for a moment. "Godzilla," he then says, giving them a smile from over his shoulder.

Cecily and Jack laugh with pleasure at their older brother's answer.

"Hannibal," Jack then takes it upon himself with the next letter.

"Like Lecter?" Daryl wonders.

"No. Hannibal from Ancient Carthage," Jack shakes his head. "Who's Hannibal Lecter?"

"No one," Beth is the one to answer.

"Who is he?" Cecily asks eagerly now that they know it's not someone their mama obviously wants them to know about. Beth gives Daryl a frown, but he just smirks and shakes his head.

"He was a character from a couple books and a movie. He was a doctor who ate people," Daryl tells them.

"Oh," Cecily and Jack both answer, a little let-down with the answer.

Daryl smiles a little to himself. Apparently, people eating people isn't as interesting as it used to be.

"Ice cream!" Cecily then resumes their game.

"Are you hungry?" Beth asks her, noting all of her food answers so far.

They haven't eaten since breakfast, but breakfast was a big one and Beth and Daryl had made plans to not stop – unless for bathroom breaks – until they set up camp that evening and fix dinner.

"I'm okay," Cecily shakes her head.

But Beth stops and Daryl stops as well, giving his arm a moment's rest. Beth comes to the wagon and smiles at Jack before kneeling down to begin sifting through their supplies.

"Dad."

Daryl instantly looks to Eli and then to where Eli is pointing. It's a walker – shuffling up the street, having spotted them and coming right towards them – but he's moving slow. He seems to be rotting. Daryl's noticed that happening a lot with every walker he's seen lately. It's almost like there aren't enough living people and animals left for the walkers to sustain themselves – and if there are humans and animals, they've gotten too good at hiding themselves. In the mountains, fresh game is bountiful. Daryl doesn't overhunt – only an idiot would hunt what he doesn't need – and he is able to provide fresh meat for his family. He has to wonder if all of the animals have figured it out and have adapted, finding new places to live, whether that be in mountains or other places where there aren't as many walkers anymore.

And is that a possibility? With fewer humans to turn into walkers and the walkers that are stumbling around, rotting away into nothing, after all of these years, does that mean that the walkers are finally –_ finally_ – dying off? Daryl's never thought of that and he wonders how right or wrong he is in those thoughts.

Daryl watches the slow shuffle of the walker and then looks to Cecily and Jack.

"Time for a lesson," he tells them and then hefts Jack from under his arms, lifting him from the wagon and setting him on his feet. "Knives."

Both promptly unsheathe the knives they have hanging from their belt loops.

"Good," Daryl nods to them. "Now, you're gonna watch 'im for a second."

With Eli, Daryl stands with Jack and Cecily in the middle of the road, watching as the walker draws nearer. He can feel Beth still standing at the wagon behind them, watching and letting Daryl give the kids their first lesson. They have the kids practice on a mannequin they found years earlier, setting it up in the barn where they are taught how to kick, hit and elbow the sternum, but this is the first actual walker the twins will take down. Daryl can feel the stiffness in their bodies as they stand, waiting.

"Alrigh'," he says. "'s gettin' closer. You want to wait or you wanna meet 'im halfway?"

"Meet him," Jack and Cecily answer at the same time.

"Let's go meet 'im then," Daryl nods. From the corner of his eye, he can see that Eli has drawn an arrow from the canister he wears on his back and holds it to his bow – just in case it's needed – and Daryl thinks _Good boy_ in his head; not that he's surprised. He's trained Eli, too, and Eli's always prepared. "Alrigh'. What are you gonna do now?" Daryl asks the twins.

The walker snarls, drawing closer.

Jack and Cecily both take deep breaths and look to one another, their fingers tightening around the knife hilts. They both then step forward, Daryl pulling out his own knife as he and Eli hang back, watching them. The walker is hungry, snapping its jaws at the sight of the two little kids in front of him, but he's still moving slow. This is the perfect first walker for the twins to practice on.

Jack and Cecily whisper to one another, but Daryl can't hear about what.

Cecily then moves to the side, making a wide circle to come up behind the walker, the walker following her, turning himself around, nearly tripping over as he does, but keeping his eyes on her, snarling louder now.

Daryl's pretty sure he's holding his breath and he's certain Eli's doing the same and he doesn't doubt that Beth is holding her breath, too, as they all watch.

Now behind the walker, Jack steps as close to him as he dares and kicks the back of one of his knees. The walker falls over easily to the ground and as he's struggling to stand up again, both Jack and Cecily, together, lean over, avoiding the flailing arms and, again, together, they stab their knives into the walker's head, the walker dying once and for all and everything falling quiet once again.

"Yay!" Beth breaks the silence with her clapping and Eli lets out a whoop of celebration.

The twins are beaming and after yanking their knives from the walker's head and slipping them back into their sheaths, they come running back. Daryl is grinning as he swoops Cecily up in his arms and Eli drags Jack into a tight hug, slapping his little brother on the back. Cecily giggles as Daryl's facial hair tickles her cheek when he gives her a kiss. Daryl then sets her on her feet and Eli lets Jack go so both can go run to Beth, Beth smiling as she kneels down, Jack and Cecily running straight into her open arms.

After a minute of celebration, Jack lets out a yawn and Daryl looks upwards to the sun and the position.

"We have some spare food for a snack?" Daryl asks as he and Eli come to the wagon as well, Daryl lifting Jack up again and setting him down inside.

"After their first walker kill? _Of course_ we have enough for a snack," Beth says, still smiling, shining with pride, and after a moment, she finds a plastic baggie filled with cinnamon bark.

"What are we going to do when we run out of cinnamon one of these days?" Eli wonders as he chews on his strip, sitting down, balancing his butt on the narrow side of the wagon, stretching his legs out so his feet can be braced firmly on the ground.

"With as many coffee shops as we've raided for our supply? It'll be a long time 'fore we run out if we keep rationin' it right," Daryl answers before pulling another bite from the bark strip in his hand.

"How come no one else wanted cinnamon?" Cecily asks, chewing on her own piece.

Beth is the one to answer this time. "It's just not something a lot of people thought of wanting for themselves. Lucky for us," she adds with a smile and Cecily smiles, too. "I've been thinking," she says to Daryl and he's quiet, looking at her, chewing on his cinnamon bark and waiting. "If we remember how to find our way back, we could go to St. George's."

Daryl's surprised at the suggestion, but he doesn't show it on his face. "Nothin' there anymore. Took it all with us after the storm."

Daryl has thought of their first house in that subdivision time to time over the years; if there hadn't been that horrible hurricane and there hadn't been flooding and a tree hadn't fallen over their roof, would they still be living there? Daryl doesn't doubt it. It had been a good house with a good fence they had built. There would have been no reason to leave.

"We could maybe see if the cherry tree is there and if it is, we could visit the first Jack," Beth suggests.

Daryl is quiet, thinking that over. "'member how sour those cherries were. Jus' 'bout killed me the first one I snagged and tasted."

Beth giggles a little at the memory. "I _told_ you they were sour, but you wanted to find that out for yourself."

Daryl smiles, too, and then is quiet again for another moment. He finishes his strip of cinnamon bark and leans over to pull out a bottle of water from the supply they've filled and brought with them. "We get to the farm first. After that, if we can find our way again, we'll stop," he promises her.

Beth smiles and lifting herself on her toes, she gives him a light kiss, he tasting the cinnamon on her lips. He smiles a little and gives her his own kiss before handing her the bottle of water. He looks to the three kids. Jack looks like he's seconds away from falling asleep. All of the walking this morning and then killing his first walker, the kid's tank is probably below E.

"Anyone need to pee 'fore we start walkin' again? Wanna get more distance in before we stop for good today," he looks to Eli and Cecily.

"Yep!" Cecily exclaims and then hurries away, dropping down into the ditch along the side of the road to take care of business.

Eli finishes his piece of bark before dusting off his hands and without a word, he heads towards a nearby tree.

"So, I guess girls' room is in the ditch and boys' room is over there," Beth laughs. "Ceci, don't wipe with any leaf until I look at it first!" Beth then calls out to their daughter, pausing to run a gentle hand over Jack's head, before going to hurry to the ditch.

Daryl smirks a little and looks down to Jack, but the boy is sound asleep. If they need to stop for him in a little bit, they will. In the meantime, Daryl will let him keep sleeping. It's been a big day, so far, for all of them.

…

They walk for a few more hours before Daryl calls it a day. The sun is lowering in the western half of the sky and though none have said it, Daryl knows everyone is tired. It's a good time to stop and he wants to get their camp set up before it's completely dark out.

He steers the wagon off the road into the trees and after walking for another moment, he finds a good spot in the trees, the space begin enough for them to sleep, but not too big where they can't defend it. Daryl gives them all jobs to do. Eli begins clearing away and digging a hole for their fire and Beth begins making dinner preparations as Daryl takes the twins and shows them how to string their tinned can alarms from tree to tree.

Beth has brought sacks of potatoes with them – potatoes another of their main crops that gets them through the winter – and using the small cutting board she has brought with her, she begins chopping up a few of the potatoes into slices. Eli takes the iron skillet frying pan also brought with them and situates it over the fire he has going now, letting it sit and get nice and hot. Beth then comes and she begins loading the potato slices into the pan. As Daryl, Cecily and Jack come back to sit at the fire, Beth produces a loaf of fresh bread and a small container of butter. They've begun making their own churned butter from their goats milk and it's a luxury they can't believe they've lived without for so long.

The first time the kids all tried butter for the first time, Daryl swears their eyes all dilated as if high.

They have plastic plates and forks to use on their trip and once the potatoes are fried up, Beth scoops a helping to everyone and with their bread and butter, they dig into their feast, all sitting around the fire, listening as night settles in around them.

"Carbs and gluten," Beth smiles as Daryl before she takes a bite of her buttered slice of bread.

Daryl smirks, his mouth full of potato.

"Were people really worried about stuff like that?" Eli asks her.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Beth nods. "Your Aunt Maggie went on a sugar-free diet once or _tried _to. After three days, she was just about to kill me or Uncle Shawn when she saw us eating Hershey bars."

"How come people did that?" Jack wonders.

"You don't know it 'cause your mama is able to make everything we eat right in our kitchen, but back then, mos' people ate processed crap that was full of shit from factories," Daryl tells them.

"Actual poo?" Cecily asks with wide eyes.

Beth smiles, almost laughs, and shakes her head. "No, not actual poo. Chemicals and dyes and things like that. If you wanted to eat healthy, you had to _really_ work at doing it. But your dad's right. We don't have to worry about that. What we eat, our mountain and our animals give us and we're active and we don't have to worry about a lot of the problems that used to come with not eating good."

"Jelly beans!" Cecily suddenly says, a bit too loudly, before she remembers and gives Daryl a sheepish grin.

Daryl smiles a little back at her before taking a bite of his own buttered slice of bread.

"Kung Pao Chicken," Eli grins.

"Lobster," Jack takes his turn.

Daryl and Beth listen as the kids go through the alphabet, each taking a turn with a food they've never tried.

Beth's smile fades a little as they go on. She can't help, but get a little sad when the kids play this game and she listens to everything they list off things they've never seen or tasted and probably will never see or taste.

And as if Daryl can read her thoughts, he reaches a hand over and slides it onto her thigh, giving it a squeeze. Beth looks at him and he gives her a small smile. After a moment, Beth is able to push her sadness and give her husband a smile in return.

…

* * *

**Thank you so, so much for your response to the first chapter and for reading this chapter. Please take a moment to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

…

"Dad."

The whisper reaches his brain, soft and urgent, but it takes him a moment for his eyes to open. As soon as Daryl can focus on Jack, kneeling next to him, he's wide awake, all traces of sleep wiped from both his brain and eyes, and he's already sitting up and reaching for his crossbow.

His eyes fall to Beth, sleeping next to him, and to Cecily, sleeping as well. Their fire is low, but still crackling and burning, and he can make Eli out at the edge of their camp, keeping watch, having woken when it was the end of Daryl's watch and it was his turn. But it's a quiet night. This whole trip has been quiet. End of two days and they haven't seen any people and hardly any walkers.

They've been up on their mountain for so long without coming down… Daryl wonders if this is how the world is now. Quiet. Empty. He doesn't mind it – far from it, actually – but it's not the way of things he remembered. Down here, people fought people over the smallest scraps. The dead gathered by the dozens and hundreds. Having everything like this – no walker or person in site – is unsettling in a way; Daryl can't help, but be constantly tense, waiting for the ambush because surely, there's one coming.

"Wha' is it?" Daryl whispers to him.

"I have to… I didn't want to distract Eli from keeping guard by keeping watch over me," Jack tells him.

"Alrigh'. I gotta go, too," Daryl says and Jack smiles.

There is a candle they've brought with them for this very reason. Nightly trips to go to the bathroom. The woods are just about pitch black; even when there's a moon out. It's not a full one though so the sliver of light can only give so much and Jack lights the wick now from the fire flames so they're not stumbling around.

They both stand up and Eli turns his head to look at them from the other side of the fire. He gives them a nod before looking back to the trees and Daryl and Jack head towards the opposite trees. Daryl steps over the string of cans first and then, before Jack can, Daryl easily hefts the boy up with one arm and lifts him over. Together, they then head to a tree far enough away where they have some privacy, but not far enough away where they can't still see the low flames of their fire.

"You don't have to do that," Jack says in a quiet voice.

"Do wha'?" Daryl asks, looking down to him.

Jack shakes his head and looks to the candle, holding it carefully and steady. "I'm not weak," he then says.

Daryl frowns a little. "I know you ain't. Never said you were, did I?"

Jack is quiet for a moment and Daryl waits for him to answer. Jack's like him. Eli is, too. They don't say the first thing that comes to their mind, blurting it out whether it's what should be said or not. They choose their words carefully. Cecily almost reminds him of Merle in ways. She's loud and funny and is always talking – whether she has anything to say or not. Daryl likes it though. Merle's been dead and gone for so many years and still, Daryl finds his daughter to be just like her Uncle.

"Me and Cecily killed that walker together," Jack then says.

"Hey," Daryl stops him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. He then crouches down and Jack turns so they're facing one another. "I don't think you're weak 'cause you ain't, Jack. You're a Dixon and Dixons ain't weak. But you got sick and your mama and I thought you weren't gonna make it. So, I'm gonna take care of you even though I know I shouldn' 'cause I can't help, but think I'm lucky to be able to."

Jack is quiet at that, thinking it over. "I don't mind when you and mama take care of me. I just want to show you that I can take care of myself, too."

It's Daryl's turn to be quiet as he thinks that over. He then gives a single nod. "If I try to do somethin' for you and you think you can do it, you tell me. Might not listen to you, but you tell me anyway."

Jack smiles at that. "Sounds good," he agrees and Daryl smiles, too, before pushing himself up enough so he can kiss Jack on the forehead.

They both take care of their business against two trees, the candle resting carefully on some ground Jack has cleared of leaves, and then, once they're both finished, they begin heading back to their camp.

"What's the farm like?" Jack asks.

"'s big. Open. Nicest place I ever been in 'till your mama and I got our own house."

"You think mama's gonna find what she's looking for?"

Daryl doesn't answer that question right away. He knows what the rest of their family thinks about this trip. Stupid and reckless and even pointless. All three of those words had been used by everyone at some point from the second Beth brought it up to everyone. But Beth wasn't swayed and in turn, neither was Daryl. She wants to go back to the farm. He can't fault her for that. Hell, if he had his old home nearby and it was _any_ place worth returning to, he might feel that same sense of curiosity, too.

Beth misses her parents and brother and sister. It doesn't matter how many years have passed. Especially with Eli getting older, Daryl had never met him, but Beth will tell him that their son is reminding her more and more of Shawn every day. She wants family pictures – another thing Daryl can't fault her for.

It's been years. So many years now, Daryl admits that he's lost count. At least fourteen. He doesn't doubt that people have found the farmhouse by now and have cleaned it out. But Greene family photos, those will still be there. No one gives a shit about family photos anymore unless they're _their_ family and maybe, there will be other Greene family stuff for Beth to find and take with her; things to pass onto their own kids.

It might not make sense to anyone else, but when it comes to Beth, when she first suggested it to him, even though she had, she hadn't – not to him. When it comes to Beth, he understands everything she does and rarely needs an explanation from her.

"I hope so," Daryl finally answers.

When they reach their camp again, this time, Daryl takes a step back as Jack hands him the candle and he then watches as the boy gets on his belly and slithers underneath the string of cans. He smiles before stepping over the string himself and when Jack stands up again, brushing the front of his clothes, he gives Daryl a grin.

…

"Munch, munch, munch!" Cecily chants as she chomps down on the handful of potato chips and then laughs as if she finds herself to be quite hilarious; and she does.

Mama makes potato chips. They grow so many potatoes and it gets them through the winter and with all of their potatoes, mama makes chips as a treat for them all. She takes a potato, cuts it into thin slices and then putting it on a baking sheet and sprinkling it with just a little salt, she bakes them in the oven for a while.

"Remember Lays?" Spencer asked when they were all sitting around one night, reading together and sharing a fresh batch of potato chips. "So damn salty and greasy, you could touch a piece of paper and see through it? Not these though. If Beth had made these Before and sold them, she would have made a fortune."

None of the kids knew what Lays were, but they had all agreed with Spencer anyway. There are just certain things that Beth makes that always feels like a special treat – even if she makes them often or not.

"Potato chips is a good walking-to-the-farm snack, mama," Cecily informs her.

Beth, walking next to her, smiles. "We used to call those snacks road-trip snacks."

"Road trip," Cecily echoes. "Are we on a road trip?"

"A family vacation," Beth says, still smiling.

It's been three days since they've left the mountain and this morning, daddy had said they're getting close and ever since he said that, mama's been walking with a slight lightness in her step. Cecily can't decide if she likes this part of Georgia. She misses the mountains. The mountains are home. And here, it's _too_ open. It makes her nervous, but she's not sure why. There just doesn't seem to be a place to hide if she needs to.

Eli is behind them, pulling the wagon, and Jack is sitting inside and daddy is leading the way.

Cecily smiles at mama. She likes how that sounds though. A family vacation. She's read all about families taking vacations in books and Cecily likes that now, she's on a vacation, too, with her family.

Just like how things used to be Before.

"What are we going to be looking for?" Cecily asks, crunching on another potato chip.

Mama gives her a look for talking with food in her mouth – all of the adults give the kids looks when they do that – and Cecily snaps her mouth shut, giving her an innocent smile. Cecily knows that mama wants to smile, too, but she's doing her best not to.

"Pictures. That's what I really want to get. Pictures of my mama and daddy, your Grandma and Grandpa, and your Uncle Shawn and Aunt Maggie. And there were so many little things. Maybe a couple of plates that had been in the Greene family for a long time, having made the long trip from Ireland to America."

Cecily wrinkles her nose at that, but is smart enough to not say anything. Plates don't sound very exciting, but she won't dare tell mama that. She just pops another potato chip into her mouth.

"That's a good "I" word for the game. Ireland," Cecily thinks.

Beth smiles at her and Cecily looks up at her, smiling, too. "I've never been to Ireland either," Beth tells her. "I had asked my parents if I could go when I graduated from high school and they had actually agreed. They thought it had sounded like a great idea."

Cecily keeps smiling at that and holds out her hand. Beth smiles and takes a potato chip for herself. Cecily won't say it, but she likes when she and Jack play the game and daddy and mama will say something that they've never eaten or it either. It's sad that mama never got to go on her trip to Ireland, but Cecily likes that they all have things they missed out on.

"We need to save some," Beth then says. "We still have a return trip to make back home."

Cecily nods and folds up the Ziploc bag of potato chips, turning to walk back to the wagon Eli is pulling. She puts the chips in one of the other boxes with their food and seeing that Jack is sleeping, Cecily makes sure that he is covered with a blanket. Spring might be right around the corner and the sun might be out, but it's deceptive and the wind is still brisk and cold. Cecily doesn't want him to get sick again.

They all stop when they hear Daryl's crossbow release and a bolt flies through the air. A second later, a body of a walker falls to the pavement of the road. Daryl goes to collect his bolt from the walker's head and he stands over the body, looking down at it, not moving. Beth watches him and then looks back to Eli and Cecily standing at the wagon.

"Eli, watch your brother and sister," she tells him.

"You got it," Eli readily agrees.

Beth goes to meet Daryl up where he's still standing, looking down at the walker.

"Everything alright?" She asks him.

Daryl nods. "Yeah. 's just…" he doesn't finish the sentence and Beth looks down to the walker as well.

So much of her life now is spend inside their fences; either in their massive garden that is just getting bigger with each planting season (and it has to be to feed their large family and all of their animals) or in the Dixon tree-house or the cabin kitchen. She, of course, goes out to forage and bathe herself and wash clothes in the creek, but she just doesn't see that many walkers anymore. Not like she used to see.

Daryl told her once that he thinks the walkers are all rotting away, decaying into nothing. And what humans there are, everyone knows now that when a person dies, they have to be stabbed in the head so not as many walkers are coming back. There were billions and billions of people in the world and Beth knows that there's no way that they are finally seeing a possible end to the walkers and yet…

She looks down to the dead walker and agrees with her husband completely. The walkers she _does _see now all looks like this walker here. There's nothing to them; not anymore. Bones exposed and skin as fine as tissue paper; if it's not completely worn away in some spots.

"Fuckers are gettin' uglier by the day," he mutters.

"That's for sure," Beth agrees, not even giving him a look for the curse words. The kids are too far back to have been able to overhear.

"You recognize this?" Daryl then asks her, breaking through her thoughts.

"Hmmm?" Beth lifts her head to look around.

It's a highway, a few cars and trucks scattered around them, the open Georgia blue sky, and the woods back from the road on either side. There's also a billboard – so worn down from the sun and weather, she can hardly read it, but there's something she can make out. It's a shape… an orange shape. She gasps. The pumpkin farm. _Jimmy's_ family's pumpkin farm.

"We're almost there," Beth then whispers, almost afraid to say it too loud in case it makes it not true.

"Figured we got a couple more miles until we hit that snarl of cars on the highway and then, just a couple more miles after that. Figured we'll get there before nightfall."

Beth looks him with a rapidly drumming heart in her chest and she can't explain the tears that flood her eyes, but they're there nonetheless and without a word, she stands on her toes, throws her arms around Daryl's shoulders and hugs him tight.

Daryl hugs her back, her nose to her hair. "Almost home, Beth," his voice is soft in her ear and she closes her eyes, squeezing her arms, feeling his squeeze in response.

Home. It's been so long… their cabin and farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains is their home. No doubt about that. But she can have more than one home, right? It's been so long, too many years and she's lost track, but knowing that they're so close, just a few more miles… Yes, she's going home. The farm will always be her home, too, no matter how long it's been and now, in just a few more hours, she'll be seeing home again.

…

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading! I'm quite excited for the next chapter and the return to the farm. **


	4. Chapter 4

…

"It's so big, mama," Cecily says in a hush, awed, as she looks to the house that rises from the field.

Beth can't answer her; all she can do is nod. Her throat feels thick and tears are stinging her eyes. She didn't know why she thought it, but she had been afraid that the house wouldn't still be standing. One of the barns – the one that burned that night of the herd – was obviously gone, but the other barn still stands as well.

It's quiet; so quiet as it always had been. She wonders what the house looks like inside and she tells herself that she'll find that out very soon. At the moment, Daryl has told her to stay back in the trees with Jack and Cecily – just for a moment – as he and Eli go ahead. She watches now as her husband and oldest son move through the grass, having grown to their knees (and she thinks of all of their animals that would gladly chew all of those blades down again), and simultaneously, both release their bolt and arrow, both sinking into the skulls of two walkers ahead. And once the bodies fall, besides the birds chirping, it truly is practically silent.

The house stands magnificent as always; a truly impressive farmhouse even with the white paint having faded over these many years, the constant exposure to the sun and other elements with no one around to maintain the upkeep. A few of the windows have been broken, too, and Beth thinks of that horrible hurricane from years earlier – back when they had still lived in the St. George subdivision – and she wonders if the farmhouse had seen the same storm.

Beth watches with bated breath as Daryl and Eli climb the steps of the front porch and Eli is the one to bang on the door, both he and Daryl waiting. Beth waits, too, holding her breath and if she had been paying attention to anything else other than seeing her childhood home again after all of this time, she would notice that Jack and Cecily are absolutely still and silent as well, watching their daddy and big brother and waiting for the "all clear" signal and that they could come out from the trees.

Daryl and Eli both pause, listening, and then Daryl gives Eli a nod. They must have heard something from inside and Beth watches, her chest burning from still not breathing, as Eli is the one to push open the front door – she notes that the screen door is gone – and Daryl sweeps inside.

Beth so badly wants to step out of the trees and go to the house, but Daryl made her promise that she would stay put until he knew it was safe for her and the kids. Beth thinks this might be the worst. Three days of walking and camping out hadn't been bad whatsoever. It had actually been enjoyable – the Dixon family being out here, their own version of a family vacation, seeing the world. But now, having the farmhouse right in front of her and not being able to go to it yet, the wait and anticipation of going inside is agony.

She knows it's not even five minutes before Daryl steps onto the porch again and lets out the call of a Sparrow – his usual signal for everything being all clear. Jack and Cecily take off immediately, bursting from the trees and running through the grass to see who can reach the house first. Beth had thought she would run, too, but her legs feel shaky beneath her as she takes her first few steps and she forces herself to walk. She will get there soon and falling to the ground won't make her get there any faster.

Eli has come out onto the porch now as well and all four are watching her as Beth slowly approaches, her eyes never leaving the house in front of her. She feels nervous though she has no idea why.

Finally, she looks to Daryl. "Were there walkers inside?" She asks.

"Just one," Daryl answers. "A guy. Think he was livin' in there and just…" he trails off.

Beth doesn't need him to finish.

She nods and looks back up towards the house.

"We're waiting for you, mama," Cecily informs her. "You go in first."

"I…" Beth begins to say and does her best to swallow the thickness in her throat. "Now that I'm here, I don't know if I can," she then admits. She lowers her eyes from the house in front of her to look at her family, all standing on the front porch and all looking at her.

"One step at a time, mama," Jack is the one to wisely say.

And then Eli. "We're not in a hurry, mom. Whenever you're ready."

Daryl comes down the steps to join her on the ground. "Wanna wait? We can make camp out here and go in tomorrow," Daryl tells her in a quiet voice.

Beth pauses, thinking that over, but she then shakes her head. "No… I don't want to wait. I just need… could I go in first? Just by myself for a minute?"

"Hell, yeah, you can," Daryl says and taking her hand, they head up the stairs together. He then looks to Eli, Jack and Cecily. "We're gonna give your mama a few minutes," he tells them and all three nod their heads.

Beth stands in front of the open door, able to look down the hall towards the back of the house. She can smell inside and it certainly doesn't smell like home anymore, but that doesn't mean that this isn't home. Daryl and the three kids hang back as Beth takes the first step over the threshold. The sun is shining through the windows – and where the glass used to be in some spots – and the way it hits the wood and reflects from the walls, Beth's knees nearly buckle. It's all _exactly _the same.

The wallpaper on the walls is faded and curling and Beth touches it with light fingers. How silly would it be if she cut some of this away so she could hang it up on the wall in her and Daryl's bedroom back home?

She can feel her family watching her as she slowly turns right and steps into the front sitting room. Most of the furniture is still there. The coffee table and two of the chairs have oddly been taken by someone. Brown leaves that have blown inside crunch under her feet as she steps forward, her eyes trained on the fireplace in front of her; more specifically, the fireplace mantel.

They're still there. The frames knocked over and covered in dust, but they're still here.

Beth notes that her fingers are shaking as she picks the frames up. Old Greene family pictures – black and white photographs of grandparents and great-grandparents and her daddy's sisters and brothers that she hasn't thought of in so long. There's a picture of her daddy and mama standing on the front porch of this house, Hershel's arm around Annette's waist and mama is in the middle of laughing as daddy smiles.

Beth lets out a choked sob, looking at the picture, her hand lifting to cover her mouth. She hasn't seen them in so long… She hates to admit that she has almost forgotten what they've looked like, but here they are and their visions and voices rush back to her as if she's just seen and spoken to them yesterday.

She takes all of the pictures and turns to set them down on the dusty couch. She's definitely taking those. And as she lifts her head again, she goes completely still again.

The piano against the wall… it's still here. She had thought, well, honestly she had thought it would have been chopped up for firewood by someone a long time ago, but no. It still stands against the wall, the sun shining onto the keys as if beckoning her to come forward.

And that's what Beth does, her fingers already itching. She hasn't played in so long. The last time had been so long ago, that night in that funeral home she and Daryl had stayed in before heading out again the next morning. That had been the last time. Beth doesn't even know if she even remembers how to play anymore.

Still, her hands lift – almost an instinct – and her fingers curl over the ivory keys. It's not safe to play. It's too loud and it will attract walkers. She tells herself this to get herself to stop and yet, Beth doesn't move away. She's here and now, she can't step back.

She plays one note. To no surprise, the piano is horribly out of tune, but Beth doesn't care about that. The note bounces off right in the center of her chest and again, she lets out a choked sob.

She then pulls the bench out so she's able to sit down before her fingers curl over the keys once again.

Her fingers seem to remember everything as she moves them quickly up in a scale and then down again, fingers crossing over fingers, light and flawlessly; as if she hasn't missed a day of practice in all this time.

She hears movement behind her and then all three kids are there – Eli on one side of her and Cecily and Jack on the other, all watching her play the piano with fascination. They have seen pianos, but with trees growing through them or kudzu covering them up, and other than on their records, they've never heard one in the flesh either. They watch, silent and still, as Beth trails off from one scale into one of the songs she remembers, humming along to her playing.

"It's amazing," Eli says, hushed as if he's in a church, looking upon something holy, and Beth smiles, her fingers never stopping in their song.

She doesn't see Daryl, but she can feel him and she knows that he's watching her from the doorway – just like he had so long ago in that funeral home.

Beth doesn't even think. It's as if she has no control over her fingers as they begin playing the next song and Beth quickly realizes – and _remembers_ – what song it is. She begins to sing and she can feel Daryl's eyes staring directly into the back of her head.

"_We'll drink up our grief,_

_And pine for summer._

_And we'll buy beer to shot gun,_

_And we'll lay in the lawn,_

_And we'll be good."_

Suddenly, she's so much younger than she is, sitting among flickering candlelight. She had lost her daddy, the prison, _everyone_ and she sat among the candles, still able to sing and play the piano. She and Daryl hadn't had anything besides one book-bag between them that they took turns wearing. They hadn't had any semblance of a home, always walking, finding a spot for a night or two before moving on and walking again. They hadn't had enough food or changes of clothes. They had been walking, trying to find any person from their family, but even as they walked with that agenda in mind, it very much felt like each and every day, they were walking with no idea where they were going.

When the last note plays and it fades into the air, Beth turns on the bench to look at Daryl, her eyes wet. Eli, Jack and Cecily all move in towards the piano now to test the keys with their own fingers, all playing at once – telling each other to do it quietly, but so excited to be playing an actual piano. Sure enough, Daryl is leaning against the doorjamb, watching her, and to Beth, it looks like his eyes are a little wet, too.

Beth is able to give him a small smile and Daryl's lips twitch at her in reply.

…

Eli and Cecily are running from one room to another, calling out as they explore and discover a new nook or cranny. Beth listens with a smile as she heads up the stairs to the second floor, thinking how daddy had imagined the farmhouse one day sounding just as it does now – when she, Maggie and Shawn grew up and moved out and came home again with their own families.

Daryl is carrying Jack in his arms, the boy sleeping with his head resting on Daryl's shoulder. His afternoon naps last for an hour or so and when he's awake again, he'll join his brother and sister in exploring.

Beth's bedroom is the second door on the left and she walks straight for it now, wondering what could be left. They aren't here for clothes or food or bedding. Anything useful a person usually thought to take while out on a run for materials, that's not why Beth has come. They have everything they need back at home.

She stops in her bedroom's doorway, once again, the breath catching in her throat. Kudzu has started to creep inside, slowly making its way across one of the walls through a broken window and she must admit, it looks creepy as hell, but she only thinks that for a moment before looking to the rest of the room.

_Her_ room.

The bed is stripped – to no surprise – but she hardly even looks at that. Instead, she steps forward and smiles as she goes to the low bookcase against one of the walls. She picks up one of her brown plastic horses, coated in a fine layer of dust. She blows on it, watching some of the dust fly off in a great cloud. She turns as Daryl follows her into the bedroom, stopping so he could look around.

His eyes land on one of the faded out posters on the wall before looking to Beth with a smile. "Justin Timberlake?" He asks.

Beth smiles, too. "You married a much younger woman, Daryl Dixon, or have you forgotten?"

Daryl just smirks and still holding Jack, not wanting to set him down on the dirty mattress, he begins making a slow circle around the bedroom, looking over everything that had made his wife who she was when she was sixteen-years-old and this was still her bedroom.

He looks over the dusty trophies on one of the shelves and blue ribbons hanging on the wall – talent shows and a year of playing soccer and competitively riding horses. He looks at her desk and sees spiral notebooks and two textbooks still left from her school days – a biology book and another on world history.

"Hey," he says, looking to her and Beth, who is going through her dresser drawers – almost all of the clothes have been taken and what haven't, they're home to mice and moths now – lifts her head to look at him. "You wanna take these back with us?"

Beth comes to see what he's referring to. "Definitely," she instantly agrees with a single nod of her head and then smiles faintly as she opens the top notebook on the pile to look at whatever notes she had written during class another lifetime ago.

Daryl snorts when he sees the _B.G. + J.C. _written in a heart at the top of the first page.

Beth smiles, too, almost laughing. "We'll take the notebooks, too. These are all filled with class notes. It will be good for the kids and school."

"Mama!" Cecily suddenly bursts into the room, breathless. "Can I have this?"

Beth instantly turns to see what their daughter has found and is holding.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Daryl wonders, looking at the ice cream scoop in her hand.

"Of course you can have it, baby," Beth smiles before turning back towards her desk to see what else she might find to take with them.

"Daddy," Cecily sighs, as if impatient with him for not already knowing. "When it snows! The perfect snowball maker and I can make a bunch of 'em all at once to hit unsuspecting people and walkers with."

"I already told you the last time you did that, girl. You just piss the walkers off when you hit 'em with snowballs," Daryl says though Beth, not even looking at him, can hear the amusement in his voice that he's trying to hide.

Beth doesn't doubt that Cecily can hear it, too.

"Yeah, but now, I can kill a walker so I can piss 'em off all I want!"

"Cecily," both Daryl and Beth simultaneously scold her, but the girl has already left, running away with a laugh, her feet pounding down the stairs.

"Jesus," Daryl breathes.

Beth laughs softly as she opens the top desk drawer, finding a pink eraser, a small pencil sharpener shaped like a rainbow, dried pens and some pencils. She finds an old empty canvas pencil pouch, too, and she puts the pencils, sharpener and pink eraser inside to take back with them.

"Merle reincarnated, that one," Daryl mutters and Beth laughs again before opening the first drawer on the side. Her fingers still when she sees what's inside and Daryl notices. "Wha' is it?"

Beth pauses before picking the metal box up and setting it down on top of the notebooks. There is a lock and she remembers the combination. In an instant, she remembers the combination.

She looks at it for another moment, but then shakes her head. "I'm not ready to open that yet," she confesses, looking away from it to move her eyes to Daryl, still at her side.

"No hurry," Daryl tells her with a small smile and though he's definitely curious now, he also knows it's none of his business whatsoever; not until Beth makes it. "We're here for a couple of days."

…

* * *

**Thank you to rckyfrk for giving me the idea of what song Beth should play on the piano and thank you so much to everyone reading and commenting! The next chapter, we will see Beth going through more of the farmhouse and Daryl and the kids helping. **


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm so sorry for the long break between updates. I also write Jon/Sansa for **_Game of Thrones_** and with the new season, I have been ****consumed****. I hope you like this chapter though and that it was somewhat worth the wait!**

* * *

…

That night, they make camp outside in the backyard of the farmhouse.

"Why don't we sleep inside?" Cecily is the one to ask once they get their fire going.

"Why do you think?" Daryl asks her back.

Cecily is quiet, thinking that one over as she takes the lavender biscuit Beth is handing to her.

"Because if something comes, it will be easier to run when we're out here rather than if we're boxed in, inside," Jack is the one to answer.

"'s right," Daryl gives a nod.

Cecily sighs. "I should have figured that out," she grumbles and frowns to herself.

"You wanna another one?" Daryl asks and Cecily looks at him, nodding eagerly.

Eli passes out their tin plates and forks as Beth begins scooping out the green beans and mushrooms she's been frying on the pan over one half of the fire onto everyone's plates. Daryl had hunted a rabbit earlier that morning, before they reached the farmhouse, and he's been roasting it over the other half of the fire. Now, with it done, he begins cutting it up, serving out helpings to everyone.

Along with their biscuits, the Dixon family settle into their dinners, eating for a moment in silence.

"Alrigh', Ceci. This one's for you," Daryl speaks up and Cecily immediately looks to him, paying attention. "Walkers come up on us when we're sleepin'. Don't got time to think; only time to start runnin'. Which way are we goin' to run?"

"How many walkers?" She asks.

Daryl smiles a little. "Five. One for each of us."

"And they surprised us?" Cecily makes sure she's got it and Daryl nods in confirmation. Cecily then looks around; past the ring of light their fire provides, it's completely dark. There's not even a moon out tonight. She remembers though. There are woods and then there are wide open fields surrounding them. She looks back to Daryl and Beth, who are both still eating, but watching her and waiting for her answer. "I'd run into the woods," Cecily then decides.

"Why's that?" Daryl asks before shoveling some of the green beans and mushroom mix into his mouth.

"'cause walkers got mush for brains and are too stupid to not trip over roots or tree branches," Cecily says. "Easier to lose 'em in the woods."

Daryl smiles a little at that. "Good girl," is all he says and Cecily smiles, her chest puffed out a bit.

"What are we doing tomorrow, mom?" Eli asks.

Beth has just taken a sip of water and she pauses to swallow it down. "See what is left here. I know there are some things I definitely want to take, but we only have the wagon and with our food and Jack-"

"I can walk!" Jack interrupts with his protest.

"I know you can, sweetheart," Beth smiles at him. "But _just in case_, I don't want to make the wagon too heavy for us to be able to pull it back home. I also want to show you where your grandma and Uncle Shawn are buried." She pauses and looks to Daryl. "You don't have to come," she then tells him in a softer voice so the kids won't overhear.

But their kids are Dixons with the hearing that goes with it.

"Why wouldn't you come?" Cecily, to no surprise, is the one to ask.

"There was a girl, Sophia, part of your daddy's first group. She got lost and your daddy tried his hardest to find her. She's buried there now, too," Beth tells the three.

Daryl scrapes the last bit of food from his plate, shoveling into his mouth. "'m fine goin' to see her," he tells his wife. "'s been a damn long time. And I wanna see your ma and brother and Dale, too."

"Mama?" Jack says with a mouth full of biscuit and he smiles sheepishly when Beth gives him a look for talking with his mouth full. He gives her a smile once he's swallowed. "Can you tell us a story before bed? About growing up here?"

"Tell us the one about the Jenga and how Aunt Maggie and Uncle Shawn broke a lamp!" Eli suggests excitedly. That story's always been one of his favorites.

Beth laughs a little as all of the kids start talking at once, requesting one story or another. Beth has always talked about growing up here, on this farm, with her brother and sister and the horses and cattle.

Cattle is another thing the kids have never seen – except for in books and likely, it's one animal they'll never see again. Their farm is growing every year; with such a big family, they need more and more food and they need more and more animals to both help them and sustain them. Beth thanks God every day for their farm and for gracing them with the ability of making it in this new world.

They have chickens, sheep and goats. A few geese as well. They have a donkey and Anna has been able to work hard at it and break two wild horses and with breeding with the donkey, they now have one mule as well. And one of the craziest things they're in the middle of trying is the men had been able to wrangle two of the wild pigs that wander the mountains – getting completely filthy and bruised in the process – but they are in the middle of the slow, long process of domesticating them so they can someday, have pigs and piglets on their farm, too. A lot of the wild pigs have parasites – Mulligan had warned them of that when they first came to live in the mountain – but domesticating wild pigs is how the farm pigs came around and as Spencer said it: if others can do it, why can't they?

Beth knows it truly is a miracle that their family, all of their animals and all of their large amounts of food is still alive. She has a much deeper respect and appreciation for the first settlers who came to this country with absolutely nothing and survived then, too.

But, despite everything they have, cattle is just one of those things that will never be in their lives again. And though their children are growing up in the middle of a very hard-working farm, they still love to hear about their mama, growing up on a farm in Georgia. It's amazing to all of them – not just Beth and Daryl – that they're actually here. They've heard about it for so long now.

"Alright," Beth agrees. "_One_ story and then bedtime. This is a big house and I want to be able to go through it all before we have to leave for home again."

…

Daryl wakes up to the morning songs of dozens of birds in the trees, chirping and singing, greeting the dawn. It's as loud as any stereo and slowly, he lifts his head to see that the three kids are miraculously sleeping through it. He's not necessarily surprised to find that Beth is no longer sleeping on the ground with them, but Daryl still doesn't like waking up and her not being there anymore.

With a yawn and another minute, letting the sleep completely wipe away, he pulls himself up to his feet, grabbing his crossbow. He makes sure Eli, Jack and Cecily are all still covered with their blankets as they sleep before he heads around to the side of the house, relieving himself against one of the bushes growing there. The sun is just beginning to breach the eastern sky – the sky a brilliant hue of oranges and yellows, pushing the last remnants of the night away and Daryl can tell that it's going to be a good day, weather wise.

He hasn't said it out loud – yet – but he's worried about Beth. He doesn't know how being back here will be for her; or already is. She seems fine; maybe a little overwhelmed from it all, but so far, she seems fine; happy. Daryl doesn't know if she'll keep being that or if being here, being overwhelmed, will lead to some sort of breakdown. Daryl tells himself he's prepared for Beth going either way.

He goes into the house through the backdoor, looking back to the children – still sleeping – one more time.

He stops in the kitchen and listens, trying to hear where Beth is, but it's a big house and it's not like she'd be exactly making a ton of noise anyway. Daryl decides that checking the second floor first would be his best bet. That's where the bedrooms are and what Beth has talked about taking for herself sounds like things that would be in the bedrooms.

He takes the back stairs up two at a time and pokes his head in the first bedroom he passes. He does that with the next two, but no Beth. Just when he considers saying her name out loud, he looks into the last bedroom – the biggest room, her parents' bedroom – and she's there, sitting on the bed, looking at something in her lap.

"Mornin'," he says, taking a step inside.

Beth lifts her head and instantly smiles at him. "Good morning. Look what I found." She looks to the open closet door and Daryl looks to see it's a wedding dress, hanging on the door with plastic covering it. "It was my mama's. She used to let me play dress up in it."

Daryl smiles a little as he goes to sit down next to her on the bed. "You gonna take it back with us?"

Beth shakes her head, which surprises him. Pictures, plates… wedding dresses. He thought that these were the sort of family things Beth would want to take back without thinking it over. "No?" He can't help, but double check, and she smiles at the surprise in his tone.

"No. I wouldn't have the heart to see Rosita cut it up and really, it's so much lace and beading. Not exactly helpful materials to make our clothes from." Beth's smile softens as she looks back to the wedding dress. "I would dress up in it and have a fake bouquet of flowers and line all of my stuffed animals up to watch me as I walked down the aisle to get married." Daryl smiles at that; it so easy to imagine. "I used to think it was the prettiest dress I'd ever seen." She says the last part quietly and Daryl slides a hand on her knee, squeezing it. Beth looks back to him and there are tears glassing in her eyes, but she's smiling and no tears are falling. She leans in and gives him a soft kiss. "Are the kids still sleeping?" She changes the subject.

"Yeah, but I don't know how. Damn cacophony of bird songs out there," Daryl grunts.

Beth laughs quietly as she goes back to looking to her lap and the photo album she has open. "Pretty big word coming out of your mouth, Mr. Dixon," she teases.

"Yeah, well, with that practice SAT book you have Aiden studyin' from, I think it's improvin' all of our vocabularies," Daryl replies dryly and she laughs at that, turning a page in the album. "That you?" He asks, looking at one of the pictures of a young, blonde hair girl standing on the steps of a house in a plaid dress and saddle shoes with her hair in braided pigtails and a big smile that showed off two missing front teeth.

"Nope," Beth smiles and shakes her head.

"You're kiddin'." Daryl takes the album and holds it up, closer to his face to give him a better look. It sure as hell looks like his wife. It's a black and white picture, but Daryl can tell the girl has light hair, light eyes and light skin and her smile is _just_ like Beth's.

"That's my mom's sister, Aunt Ally," Beth tells him, still with a smile.

"Christ, you and Ceci look jus' like her," Daryl says, returning the album to Beth's lap.

Beth nods in agreement. "Aunt Ally lived in Idaho and I remember being a little girl, wondering why I didn't look like my mama. Her and Shawn both had brown hair and brown eyes and I _hated_ that I didn't look like them. Maggie wasn't even of the same blood as my mama, but _they_ looked more alike than I looked like either of them. But one summer, Aunt Ally visited, and I remember. I actually gasped the first time I met her. I looked at her and knew I belonged _somewhere_ in the family. Aunt Ally told me that it was actually my mama who stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone on my mama's side looked just like I did and hearing that, it was exactly what a girl my age needed to hear."

Daryl smiles. Being together with Beth as long as he has now, he's never heard that story.

Without a word, he carefully takes the picture of Aunt Ally from the album and sets it aside with a few of the other photographs that Beth has already taken out to take with her.

Beth turns towards the back of the album and giggles, holding the book up for Daryl to see. "_That's_ me."

Daryl looks at the picture of his naked wife – as a baby – sitting in the kitchen sink, getting a bath. He gives a rare grin and it makes Beth laugh now before leaning in and kissing his cheek. "'m glad we don't have a camera anymore. I never understood parents takin' pictures of their kids like this."

"Your mama didn't take a picture of you like this that you would find embarrassing years later?" Beth asks.

Daryl shrugged. "Didn't take any pictures at all."

Beth blinks at him and Daryl hands her back the album. "No pictures at all?" She whispers.

She knows all about Will Dixon and she knows what he remembers of his mom. Beth knows that her husband had had the completely opposite childhood of what she had had, but still… this world not having at least _one_ picture of a little Daryl Dixon when he was a baby or a kid, she can't help it.

"Hey," Daryl tells her quietly when he sees tears in her eyes. "None of that now. We're not here for that. We're here so you can get pictures of _you_ and your family. This world never needed Dixon pictures. The world sure as shit didn't need to remember us. Your family's worth a hell of a lot more than mine."

Beth shakes her head. "Your family gave me you though."

Daryl stares at her. How long has he been with this woman now? Years. Years and years and he hopes that they only have more and more years together. And still, after all of this time together, he sometimes has no idea what to say to her when she lets him know just how much she loves him and how much he means to her. Daryl has told her too many times to count now. They'd be nothing without her. Their family and their farm, it wouldn't exist without Beth. And anytime he tells her that, Beth always tells him the same thing.

"I wouldn't exist without you either, Daryl," his wife whispers to him.

Sitting on this bed in her parents' old bedroom, Daryl feels the same as he always does whenever he's overwhelmed with the love this woman has for him; a complete sense of being lost. So he does what he always does. He doesn't say anything. He leans in and gives her a kiss instead.

"You wanna go fix somethin' to eat and then we'll get back up here?" He suggests.

Beth looks into his eyes and he's relieved when she gives him a faint smile. "We have the last of our eggs to finish up. Green pepper omelets?" She suggests and then laughs when Daryl groans like any of the kids do when they hear they're having green peppers. Again.

"Fuckin' green peppers," he mutters, getting to his feet and then taking Beth's hand, he pulls her to her feet. "We're never growin' green peppers again. I can't take it."

"Use SAT words," Beth beams as they leave the bedroom, their hands still joined. "It does things to me when you use SAT words."

Daryl snorts at that and Beth lets out a light laugh.

"I _abhor_ green peppers," he says and breaks into a grin when he gets her to laugh again.

…

* * *

**This story is going to be longer than I initially thought. I wanted a Daryl/Beth focused chapter and in the next chapter, I plan to write a section from everyone's POV as they explore the house. THANK YOU for reading and please take a moment to review.**


	6. Chapter 6

…

"You're gonna fall and break your neck and what the hell am I gonna tell everyone when I get home again?" Daryl asks, looking up at Beth, his hands hovering around her waist, ready to catch her if need be.

"Tell them that I died doing what I loved. Scrounging around in kitchens for mixing bowls," Beth quips back, tossing her husband down a smile over her shoulder.

Despite his better efforts, Daryl actually smirks at that. But it fades as he keeps watching Beth as she looks through the top shelves of the tall cabinets, her feet on top of the counter-top and while it seems like it's still stable enough to hold the weight of his little wife, Daryl isn't letting his guard down. Every home nowadays – without maintenance – is a crumbling mess, this farmhouse included. Just because something still looks strong enough doesn't mean it is.

"This bowl really this important?" Daryl can't help, but ask.

"If it wasn't, I would be up here," Beth answers simply enough.

"Mama! I have this?" Cecily exclaims out as she hops into the kitchen, waving something in her hand.

Both Daryl and Beth look to see what their daughter has found this time. It seems like very few minutes, she's coming in here, holding something else, asking if she can take it. Random things – a baggie of bobby pins from the bathroom, an empty glass perfume bottle that all the perfume long dried out from, a Georgia Bulldog bobble-head. This time, it's a piece of sheet music from the piano bench.

"Of course, baby," Beth says and it's her answer to everything the kids find and want to take with them.

Eli is taking one of Shawn's football trophies and Jack has claimed one of Hershel's thick veterinary medical books. The vet's office has long since been cleared out of all medicines and anything else someone might find useful, but the dusty books and the degrees on the walls still remain.

"Thanks, mama! Ohhhhh, say can you seeeeee!" Cecily begins to sing loudly, turning and marching from the kitchen again, and Daryl winces.

"We raised these kids to be quieter than this," Daryl grumbles.

"They're having fun," Beth replies. "Found it!" She then exclaims. "Mama always put these bowls up as high as she could and she said, flat-out, it was because she didn't trust us. She was certain if any of us even just _looked_ at it, we would break it."

Carefully, with the bowl hugged in her arms, Beth turns on the counter and Daryl's hands still hover around her as she lowers herself, sitting her butt down. The bowl is large and white enamel, a design of a cornucopia of colorful vegetables painted around the edge.

"Real Pyrex," Beth smiles, rapping the lightest knuckles on the side of it. "This meant something back then."

Daryl just smiles. "'s pretty," he says and Beth just keeps smiling. "What else?" He then asks.

All morning, he's been following Beth from room to room, helping her go through things, opening drawers and chests, taking photos from albums and frames, gathering anything she sees and gasps over. He knows Beth's worried about space in the wagon, but Daryl's not. Whatever Beth – and the kids apparently – wants to take, Daryl will find room for them to get it back. He'll carry Jack all the way back to their mountain if that's what he has to do so Beth can take everything she wants.

"The China cabinet in the dining room," she says, still hugging the mixing bowl.

"Mama, can I take this?" Jack asks as he stands at the open refrigerator – long empty – and he holds up a plastic ice tray where the ice cubes would be shaped like elephants.

And as has become Beth's motto to the kids, she smiles and nods. "Of course, Jackie."

Daryl turns when he hears Eli coming down the back stairs and sighs when he sees the boy's arms full. "What?" Is all he asks.

Eli just smiles at his dad and goes to the kitchen table, setting everything down. "A few sets of playing cards. A couple different memory games. Some books. This…" he holds it up and Beth laughs as soon as she sees it.

"Your Uncle Shawn never knew what to get any of us for Christmas," she says and Eli grins at that.

It's a large bar of soap – still in its packaging – and it's shaped like Sansa Claus' head. Eli's surprised it was left behind, to be honest, by the others who have already ransacked the house. They were probably just looking for Dial though and weren't thinking this was actually soap.

"I also found this," Eli holds up the next item and it's Daryl's turn to grin.

"Son of a bitch," he can't stop the curse from leaving his lips as he takes the Gameboy into his own hand, looking the – now archaic – object over. "Always wanted one of these," he says, looking to Beth, and she smiles at him, watching as he turns it carefully over in his hands.

"Well, now you got one," Eli gives him a grin.

Beth and Daryl leave the kitchen for the dining room, both boys following behind them with their finds. Cecily is at the piano, kneeling at the bench with the lid open as she digs through the piles of sheet music left in there, seeing if there's any other pieces she wants to take.

"You know we don't have anythin' for you to play that on," Daryl points the obvious out to her.

"Maybe Spencer can play some of it on the fiddle," Cecily replies, not lifting her head. "You don't need a piano to play this sheet music. You're not very musically inclined, daddy," she then adds, her tone matter-of-factly. Eli and Jack both burst out, laughing at that, and Daryl turns when he hears a soft giggle come from Beth, but when she meets his eyes, she purses her lips to keep quiet, though her eyes are still laughing and she's struggling to keep from smiling.

"We also raised these kids to respect us," Daryl tells her.

"You said it yourself. Ceci's our Merle," Beth reminds him with a shrug, a smile breaking through.

At the dining room table, there is a pile of other things that Beth has already found and wants to take back with them. A thick stack of pictures of family; Beth's not taking all of them with her, but she's taking a good amount. A tea kettle that apparently had been her mama's since she was a younger woman and had first lived on her own; before marriages and Shawn and then Beth came along. Random kitchen tools that they already have back at their farm, but there's no harm in having more stirring spoons or rolling pins. Then there are the things the kids have found and want to take as well.

"There's nothing you found," Jack frowns up at him as they look at the pile.

Daryl shrugs. "Nothin' I need. I got you four and your verbal abuse. I don't need anythin' more than that."

"It was hardly verbal abuse, daddy," Cecily stands up and closing the bench lid, she looks at the keys of the piano. "Mama? Could we take one?"

"One what?" Beth asks, turning towards her.

"No one else is gonna play it or need it," Cecily furthers. "Can we take some of the keys?"

Beth looks at the piano again, obvious longing in her eyes. Daryl can tell what she's thinking without needing her to say it. He knows it breaks his wife's heart, having to think of tearing this piano – _her_ piano – apart, but he also knows that Beth knows that Cecily is right. They can't take it with them and it'll just sit here, no one to play it ever again. And if they aren't the ones to tear it up, someone else will come along and might need the wood and do just that. It will be better if _they_ are the ones to tear it up.

After another moment, Beth swallows and nods. "We can do that," she says quietly and Cecily seems to be aware of the sacrifice made and the hard decision that Beth has just come by because she smiles.

"You should play it one more time, mama," Jack speaks up, able to read the room as well as his twin's mind.

Beth looks to the piano with sadness in her eyes, but she's able to smile. "Yeah. One more time."

"How 'bout we finish goin' through the rest of the house and then tonight, after dinner, your mama plays," Daryl suggests to them all and all three Dixon kids know it's not a suggestion.

"Sounds good!" Cecily beams and takes Beth's hand, swinging it back and forth.

This time, Beth's smile comes to her much easier. She looks back to Daryl and he gives her a small smile.

"China cabinet?" He then asks.

"China cabinet," Beth nods.

Someone must have knocked into the cabinet at one point or another because through the glass doors, Daryl can see that a few of the things have fallen over and broken. Daryl just hopes what's broken isn't what they came all the way here for.

He hasn't thought about the farm and their family back home. He wants to, but he knows that if he does, he won't stop and the constant thinking will just lead to worrying about everyone and every little thing that could possibly go wrong and in this day and new world, _anything _could go wrong.

He knows Spencer, Rosita, Aaron, Anna and Matt are all capable. Hell, the kids are just as capable. Daryl knows that the entire farm isn't falling important just because he and Beth aren't there. The family doesn't _need_ them there to function.

But worrying is what Daryl does. Ever since the prison and it was just him and Beth. Before they lost the prison and he had to make sure the fences stayed strong and everyone had enough to eat. Ever since the farm, finding Sophia and before that, finding Merle. The mountain and their farm is the best thing to ever happen to Daryl – both in this world and the old one – but with it, he feels like all he does is worry. For Beth and the kids and the others in their makeshift family and all of their animals and their food supply… the worrying never ends and Daryl's certain he'll be on his deathbed, worrying about something; no doubt, worrying about Beth and their kids (maybe even grand-kids at that point).

No one's ever said it out loud – and Daryl definitely hasn't – but he knows. Everyone in their family looks at him when there are decisions to be made. They don't say it, but Daryl knows. They've put him in charge whether he ever wanted that role or not.

And being in this particular role, Daryl worries. That's what he does. So he has to shut it off or it's the only thing he'll do and right now, he doesn't need to worry about the family left behind and their home in the mountains. They are all more than capable of handling things. Right now, the only thing he has to worry is this family.

"Dirt from Ireland," Beth is smiling as their three kids crowd around her.

She has pulled out a plastic cube from the cabinet and it's packed tight with what is definitely dirt. She holds it out and all three kids to lean forward to get a good look at it.

"My great grand-father, your great, great grandfather, bought it over from Ireland with him when he came here," she is telling them, the smile constant on her face. "A bit of home when he worked to make a new home. He used to carry it around in a glass jar until it was finally moved into this cube by someone. We would have hated for the jar to break."

Eli is the one to take it, staring at the cube as if he's never seen dirt again. "Can we touch it?"

Beth smiles and nods. "Very carefully now."

With gentle fingers, she pries the top lid off and immediately, all three kids lean in closer, touching the dirt with one index finger. Eli smiles as if he's never touched anything more amazing than that. Cecily giggles.

"Ireland," Jack whispers in awe.

Daryl leans over Cecily's head then and reaches a finger out, touching the cold dirt, too. A few years ago, he had never been out of Georgia before and now, he's in a foreign country. He lifts his eyes to his wife and Beth is smiling, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, and she then touches the dirt, too.

Cecily giggles again. "We've all been to Ireland now!" The little girl happily declares.

Beth lets out a mixture of a laugh and sob and she puts her arm around their daughter, hugging her tightly into her side. They touch the dirt for a moment longer before Beth closes the lid, firmly clicking it into place and placing it on the dining room table so it can be taken back with them. She looks at the assorted dishes and other glassware and pottery that all mean something.

"I want to find something to wrap these things in. Especially the mixing bowl," Beth says, looking to Daryl.

"What's in here?" Jack asks them all, having broken away and going to a door that's under the front stairs. "Maybe there's something still in here to wrap things in."

"It used to be our coat closet," Beth answers.

Jack grabs hold of the rusted handle and tugs open the door that's already slightly ajar. No sooner that he does, he screams and falls backwards to the floor.

"Jack!" Both Daryl and Beth shout and Cecily and Eli rush to him, but the boy is already reaching for his knife.

When Daryl sees what's happened, he holds Beth back and when she looks at him with frantic eyes, he just shakes his head. _If I try to do somethin' for you and you think you can do it, you tell me. Might not listen to you, but you tell me anyway._

"I hate when they do that," Jack frowns at the raccoon, now dead from his knife, and he gently lays the animal carcass on the floor. He wipes the blood from his blade on the thigh of his jeans and stands up. When he looks back to his family, he sees the way they are standing there, all panting, breathing heavily with their racing hearts as they look at him. "What?" He frowns.

Daryl is the one to shake his head and step forward, looking down to the dead raccoon before to the boy. "You got us our dinner for the night," he tells him and Jack bursts into a smile.

…

* * *

**Thank you very much to those still wanting to read this one and please take a moment to review!**


	7. Chapter 7

…

"What was he like?" Cecily asks as they all stand at the grouping of graves marked with wooden crosses.

"A stubborn old ass," Daryl replies and Beth laughs softly as Cecily bursts into a grin at that. Even though he knows he shouldn't say things like that in front of the twins – especially Cecily who's already turning into Merle and doesn't need any more encouragement – it really is the only way to describe the man.

"Do you miss him?" She asks next.

Daryl looks at the cross with Dale's name carved into it. The grass had gotten so tall, if he and Beth didn't know where they were going, they probably would have walked right past the crosses without realizing it. They had all spent a few minutes, pulling the grass and weeds away so the four crosses were exposed again.

"Honestly, I haven' thought of him much over the years," Daryl says. He doesn't like the answer, but it's the truthful one and Cecily nods as if she understands.

"And what about Sophia?" Cecily asks.

Daryl is quiet at that question, not answering right away. For as many years that have passed and for as many people who have come and gone since, Sophia is still one face that Daryl can see perfectly in his memories.

"She was a good kid," Daryl finally answers, moving his eyes away from Sophia's cross to look down to his own daughter. He even manages to give a small smile. "A lot more good than you are," he adds.

Cecily responds to that by pushing her dad in the arm and Daryl's smile grows wider.

His eyes then move to Beth, who is listening to them even as she kneels in front of her mama's cross. ANNETTE is carved into the wood and Beth is picking dirt out of it with her fingers. After breakfast, Beth had said it was time to go visit their family and the five Dixons had left the house, heading towards the one remaining barn where they had dug those graves so many years ago.

Daryl has been watching her closely even as Cecily asks her questions, not sure how Beth would react to seeing her mama and brother's crosses. But she was smiling faintly or her face was lost to deep thought or she would look to Eli and tell him something about his Uncle Shawn that would have Eli grinning.

"When I have a son someday, I'm going to name him Shawn," Eli decides.

Beth stands up, still with a smile, and she puts an arm around their oldest shoulder's, kissing him on the side of his head. "Shawn would have been honored."

"Won't you have to run that by Bee first?" Jack then asks with a grin.

Eli throws his brother a scowl, but Jack just keeps grinning.

"I'm never getting married or having kids!" Cecily declares.

"No?" Beth looks to her with a smile.

"Nope! No one's gonna tie me down!" Cecily says and she seems to be so excited over that, she's practically bouncing on her toes.

Beth laughs lightly and Daryl can't help, but wince at Cecily's words.

Christ. _Just_ like Merle. How the hell do things like this happen? Merle had died years ago – so many years ago now – and now, he's back in the form of his and Beth's six-year-old daughter.

"Maybe, one day, you'll want to leave the mountain like Anna did and find your own Matt out there," Beth suggests and then laughs when Cecily conjures the most disgusted face she possibly can at that idea.

"Dad?" Jack turns towards Daryl. "Can we go before the afternoon?"

_And I get too tired? _That part of Jack's question goes unsaid, but Daryl hears it all the same.

"Yeah, not sure how long it'll take you so best head out now," Daryl agrees.

Beth leans in and kisses her mom's cross and the kids all follow her lead, kissing their grandma's cross as well, before they follow Beth away from the barn and through the tall grass, back towards the house. Daryl pauses at the cross, reading Annette's name. He doesn't kiss it, but he does stare down at it for a minute.

"Thanks," he then says, hardly above a whisper, and what he's thanking the woman he's never met for, he's not sure. Maybe just for having Beth and bringing her into this world because without her, Daryl wouldn't it had made it this far himself. He knows Beth's life is far greater than this, but Daryl likes the idea of Beth being put in this world so they could meet and she could save his ass; because that's exactly what she's done too many times to count over these years together.

The others are waiting for him at the front steps of the house and Daryl crouches down in front of the twins.

"You're gonna listen to your big brother. If he tells you to be quiet or he tells you to climb a tree, you do it," Daryl tells them and Jack and Cecily, quiet and listening, nod their heads. Daryl then looks up to Eli. "Don't be bossin' them 'round though," he says and Eli nearly smiles at that before nodding his head as well.

"Two pumpkins at the most," Beth reminds them. "And seeds, too, if you want. Don't eat them straight from the ground though. We need to wash them."

Up at their farm, they actually are able to grow quite a few pumpkins; enough for them to have cleared some land away so their patch has plenty of room to grow. They don't necessarily need any more pumpkins or seeds, but with the Campbell pumpkin farm so close by, Beth knows that Daryl wanted the kids to have some kind of training mission today and this one seems as good as any.

Her stomach's in a knot and she's scared even if she won't ever say it out loud. This is important, Beth knows; just as important as Jack and Cecily able to kill walkers without anyone helping them. The kids need to know how to go out here and do things without their parents. It's like when her parents let her and Shawn ride their bikes to town by themselves. There comes a time when a parent has to let their children go a little bit.

If this was still a normal world, Beth would _never_ let her six-year-old twins go anywhere without her, but this is far from a normal world anymore. This is _their_ normal world.

"And 'member. You see two or more alive people together, you kids hide quick and quiet," Daryl says and all three kids nod their heads at that.

Neither Daryl and Beth are expecting them to see anything – person or walker – but that doesn't make any of their instructions less important than others.

"The Campbell farm is east through those trees," Beth says what she's already told them this morning.

"Point east," Daryl says and all three kids correctly point in the proper direction. "'s right. Alrigh'. Get goin'. Your ma and I want you back here 'fore dark."

Beth kisses all three of the kids on their heads, keeping herself from squeezing them all tight and never letting them go, and then standing together, Daryl and Beth watch as Eli, Cecily and Jack head east, in the direction of the trees and the Campbell pumpkin farm beyond that.

Before slipping into the trees, Jack is the one to turn around and wave to them and Beth smiles as Daryl holds up a hand and then, Jack turns, stepping into the trees after his brother and sister. Daryl and Beth stay there for a minute longer, as if expecting the kids to come racing back, and then Beth exhales a deep breath. Daryl has his arm around Beth's shoulder and he tugs her into his side.

She tilts her head to look up at him. "I'm ready to open that box in the my desk," she tells him. "Will you come with me?"

"'s a stupid thing to ask me," Daryl replies and Beth slaps him in the stomach, Daryl giving her a smile for it.

…

_Thunk! _

Eli's arrow flew through the air and now lands in the side of the walker's head, the walker falling to its side in a heap, good and dead now.

"Poor thing," Cecily murmurs as they approach the great black bear, dead, the walker having been feasting on it. "I don't think the walker killed it though," she then says.

"No?" Eli asks, yanking his arrow from the walker's head and cleaning the brain and blood from the arrowhead on the thigh of his jeans.

"No," Cecily shakes her head, stepping in closer to the dead animal and gingerly, she lifts one of the bear's eyelids so she can peer at the eye. The bear's mouth is parted just enough for Cecily to touch the sharp teeth and the rough tongue. She glances to Jack as he has his knife and carefully, he begins to cut into the body, removing a patch of the fur as cleanly as he can. Animal fur is an important thing to them and this bear will give them a lot of it. "She ate something bad," Cecily then decides before looking around, wondering what it possibly could have been. She sees a bush of berries and she goes to examine them.

Hearing a rustle, Eli – with his bow loaded again with the arrow – and Jack, pulling his knife from the bear spin in the direction of the noise, poised and ready. Cecily gasps when two little black balls tumble out from the bushes where they were hiding.

"Cubs!" She exclaims and she knows she's done it too loudly, but she can't stop herself from the sight of them. "I bet that's their mama."

The black bear cubs stand on their four paws, looking at the three humans in front of them and the body of the large black bear and the walker next to it. Cecily crouches down and holds her hand out towards them.

"Ceci," Jack is the one to say to his sister, wearily. "You know what dad says about bears."

Daryl Dixon is afraid of two things in this world. One is his wife when she's mad and the other is bears. Daryl steers clear of bear tracks or signs of bears in the woods when he's hunting. Bears, in Daryl's words, can run faster than he can, climb higher than he can and swim further than he can. When it comes to bears, if they decide to come after you, there's nothing to do except play dead and pray that that's enough.

Mama told them once about a bear when it was just her and dad living in that St. George subdivision. The bear lived in the woods behind their house and mama had said they had mutual respect for one another. Mama and dad had saved it from walkers and after that, the bear left them alone, even if dad was hunting in the woods and they crossed paths.

Dad said that that was the only bear that he didn't crap his pants when coming face-to-face with it and he also said that there would never be another bear like it.

"They're hungry," Cecily informs her brothers as the cubs sniff at her fingers.

Eli pauses and then looking back to the dead animal, he looks to his sister and the bear cubs. He sighs.

"Alright," he comes to a decision and lowering his bow and arrow, he takes his pack off his back.

For lunch that day, to take with them, mom had packed them biscuits and a jar of honey. Honey is another thing they have more than enough of back on their farm and are more than able to spare a bit.

"You're going to feed them?" Jack asks as he follows Eli to where Cecily is still crouching in front of the cubs. "You feed them and they'll never leave us alone! Dad will kill us!"

"I'm not going to let them starve, Jack," Eli informs him and unscrewing the glass jar of honey, he kneels down next to Cecily and holds it out for the cubs to smell.

And within seconds, once they get a sniff at what Eli is offering, the cubs are falling over each other, trying to get the first lick.

"Dad's gonna kill us," Jack mutters to his two siblings who aren't listening; Eli and Cecily smiling and laughing as they watch the two bear cubs lick the honey enthusiastically and Jack has to admit that he wonders when the last time they ate something was. He can't help, but wonder if bear cubs eat pumpkins, too.

…

Daryl brushes off the bed as best as he can, cleaning off the dead leaves, dirt and sticks as Beth takes the metal box from the top drawer of her desk.

"It's stupid," she turns back to him as if warning him.

"I'll be the judge of that," he says, getting himself settled down on the mattress, and Beth comes to sit down next to him.

She still remembers the combination and she is easily able to spin the lock, getting it to click open. She doesn't lift the lid right away though. She takes a deep breath and then other, staring down at it. She feels Daryl's hand on the small of her back. He doesn't say anything; he just lets her know that he's there.

And as it always is, that's more than enough for her.

Finally, Beth is able to lift the lid open, showing what's inside. She exhales a shaky breath and picks up the plastic card, staring at it for a moment before holding it for Daryl to take. He does.

"I was so excited to get my learners' permit," she says, looking to the photo id, remembering when she had passed the test and her daddy had been with her when she got her picture taken and card issued. "And that summer, he was going to give me driving lessons around the farm just like he had done for Maggie and Shawn." She looks at the id in Daryl's fingers for another moment before looking back down to the box and picks up the next thing. Unfolding it, she reads what is typed onto it: her full name, her birth date, her parents' name, the hospital where she was born.

"'s amazin' you have yours. Never saw mine 'fore in my life," Daryl says quietly, seeing the tears trail slowly down his wife's cheeks as she looks down to her birth certificate.

"We had this fireman come to talk to our classes about fire safety and important documents or things we don't want to lose, we should keep in a fireproof box. I came home that day and asked my parents if I could get a fireproof box immediately," Beth says, still staring down at the paper in her hands. "I was someone," she then whispered, the tears streaming down steadier now. "This proves it."

Daryl's hand slides from her back so his arm can circle her waist and he holds her close. "You _are_ someone, Beth," he tells her in a quiet voice that Beth has called like gravel more than once. But she loves his gravel voice, he knows. "You've always been someone and you always will be."

He doesn't know if Beth actually hears him. She's crying more now, harder – great sobs rising from her throat as the tears keep coming – and he wraps his other arm around her, holding her and not trying to get her to stop. He's been waiting for this since they've gotten here and it seems like now, it's come.

…

* * *

**Thank you so, so much and please take a moment to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

…

After her something of a breakdown upstairs in her bedroom, Beth admits to feeling much better. It had been building and pressing down on her chest without she even realizing it. Daryl kisses her on the temple.

"Alrigh'?" He asks her.

Beth manages to give a small smile – small, but true – and she nods her head, wiping her cheeks. "Alright."

She leans into him and pressing her face to the side of his throat for a moment, she breathes him in; as if the scent of Daryl Dixon gives her strength. Daryl rests his lips to her head and she releases a breath. She's alright now. She truly is. Being back here, slammed with so many memories and ghosts, she is glad they have made this trip so she could get these things and show the kids some part of where they come from, but honestly, she's looking forward to getting back to their mountains.

She left this house, a terrified girl, and she's now a woman; a wife and a mom who has done pretty well for herself if she is allowed to say.

Beth pulls her head back and Daryl looks at her, lifting his hands to her face and brushing hair back from her cheeks for her. She smiles. "I'm in the mood for an early dinner. I'll get started on it so it'll be ready by the time the kids get back."

Daryl turns on the bed to look out the window and see the position of the sun. He frowns. He knows the kids are alright. They're his and Beth's kids, after all. But more time has been spent in Beth's bedroom than he first noticed and the sun is getting further in the west.

"Where the hell are those kids?" He grumbles.

He stands up from the bed, taking one of Beth's hands, pulling her with him, Beth still clutching her drivers' permit and birth certificate in her other hand.

"Daryl, it hasn't even been an hour," Beth feels the need to point out to him. "And the Campbell pumpkin farm is huge. They're probably just exploring."

"And you said the Campbell farm wasn't even a mile away. They're gettin' pumpkin seeds and comin' back. It shouldn' take 'em _more_ than an hour."

Downstairs, Daryl lets go of her hand and opens the front door, stepping out on the porch, staring off east, towards the woods in the direction where the kids had gone. Beth isn't going to worry. It's not even been an hour and she knows their kids to be quite capable. Daryl trained them, after all. And she's also not going to worry because if she opens that door, worrying is _all_ she'll be doing.

Leaving Daryl on the front porch, Beth goes back into the house, heading down the hallway into the kitchen. In one of the airtight containers they've brought with them, Beth digs out the carrots, green peppers and an onion. Thankfully, this is the last green pepper they've brought with them. She knows they should be grateful for every bit of food they can successfully grow on their farm – and they are – but definitely no more green peppers; at least for a few seasons. She also takes out the small container of their goat's butter.

She is cutting the carrots when Daryl comes into the kitchen, muttering to himself.

"I don't think we'll be able to go to St. George's after this," she says, interrupting her husband's thoughts.

Daryl lifts his eyes to her. "Why not?"

"We're low on food. We have enough to get us home, but no more than that." Beth then shrugs and goes back to cutting. "It's alright. There's nothing there anyway. That storm destroyed everything and I don't want to see what's become of it. I want to remember our first home the way it was. And…" she pauses and she looks up from the carrot to see Daryl looking at her, waiting. She gives him a smile. "I really miss home and kind of just want to get back there. I miss eggs and milk and my kitchen."

Daryl smirks a bit at that. "I miss home, too," he nods.

"Could you start a fire for me?" She asks.

"You got it."

He heads out the back door and first, Beth rubs a little bit of the butter on the bottom of the iron skillet before she tosses the cut carrots in. She then begins working on cutting up the green peppers and onion, adding those along with the carrots. She goes back to one of the food containers and pulls out two potatoes, going back to the counter to cut those into slices, adding it to the iron skillet with everything else.

She smiles a little to herself. What would _really _make this good is bacon. None of the kids have ever had bacon before. She wonders if Anna had. She had been around six when they found her so would she even remember it if she has had bacon before? They know absolutely nothing about pigs – domesticating them, raising them, butchering them. But they'll do what they've always done. They'll learn and Spencer's right. If others figured out how to do it, why wouldn't they be able to figure it out?

Beth can't help, but already begin to imagine how much she'll be able to do with the addition of bacon to some of her recipes and maybe she'll be able to create even new ones.

All of the vegetables piled into the iron skillet, Beth adds another dollop of butter before carrying it out the back door. Daryl is at the fire pit they have made and used their past few days here, blowing on the flames and adding sticks and leaves for kindling. He stands up when he sees her coming and takes the heavy skillet from her so he can set it down on the cooking rack over the flames for her.

"Thank you," she smiles and she pokes at the butter with her wooden spoon, making sure the butter catches the steadily growing heat and begins to melt into the vegetables. It might not seem a lot, but this will fill them up and give them something hot in their bellies. She wishes she had cornbread though. That's another thing she misses about their home. She misses being able to bake.

Daryl hears it first and he lifts his head from the fire, peering ahead, his body still. Beth sees the stiffness in his body and she freezes, her ears straining to hear what he's heard. Daryl snatches his crossbow nearby and stands up, turning in the direction of whatever noise it was is coming from.

And then, from around the side of the house, Eli appears, Jack on his big brother's back, clearly asleep. Cecily appears a few steps behind them, a pumpkin in her arms. Beth exhales at the sight of them and she takes a step towards them, a smile on her face, but then she gasps and stops in her tracks.

They're not alone.

"What the hell did you kids do?" Daryl snaps and Daryl isn't the sort to yell at the kids – he always feels too guilty about it afterwards – but when those kids come home with two black bear cubs following after them, Beth feels he has every right in the world to do just that.

Cecily comes skipping past Eli to reach their parents first. "Aren't they cute?" She asks them though from the frowns on their faces, it's obvious that that's not the first thought on either Daryl or Beth's minds.

"A walker got the mom bear. These two fell out of a bush they were hiding in," Eli says, joining them.

Daryl is still frowning and handing his crossbow to Beth, he takes Jack from Eli's back to hold him in his arms. Jack doesn't stir from his afternoon nap, his head finding his dad's shoulder.

"We fed them honey!" Cecily exclaims happily and Eli winces at his sister's admission.

Beth gasps. "You fed them?"

"You both know better than that," Daryl's frown only grows deeper. He looks to his oldest son. "You definitely know better than that."

"I know," Eli looks appropriately guilty. "But they were going to starve. And Jack was completely against it if it makes you feel better."

"And that's why he's my favorite," Daryl replies without missing a beat.

Cecily looks completely aghast at that and Eli has to look down to the ground to hide his small smirk.

"Look," Cecily says, having recovered from her dad's comment. "I know you said we didn't need pumpkins, but I remember reading somewhere that bears eat pumpkins. This way, mama won't have to give them any of our food."

"You say that like your mama would have done that," Daryl is still frowning and he looks past them both to look at the two bear cubs, who are staring up at their kids like they've got a new mama bear. And of course the cubs are looking at them like that. They _fed_ them. Like idiots.

His kids know better. Or they're supposed to.

Jack shifts his head as if he's waking up, but he remains asleep and not wanting to deal with this right now, Daryl turns and carries him back towards the fire where their sleeping bags are. He glances towards their vegetables in the skillet, frying away, before kneeling down and settling Jack down.

"You kids know better," he hears Beth says, voicing his exact thought. "You can't just feed whatever wild animal you find the woods!"

He expects Cecily to whine and protest. Instead, it's Eli.

"Mom, they were going to starve. Look at them!" He exclaims. "They're still too young to be able to know how to get their own food."

"And you and Ceci are going to teach them how to be bears?" Beth questions.

Eli sighs heavily. "I just couldn't leave them out there."

Beth is quiet for a moment and then sighs heavily, not saying anything to that. She turns and returns to the fire, picking up her wooden spoon again to get back to the vegetables.

"So, can we keep them?" Cecily asks.

Daryl and Beth just look at one another and neither say a word. Cecily hurries to the fire to join them, still holding the pumpkins and the cubs run after her, not wanting to let her out of their sight.

"Can we keep them?" Cecily asks again.

Daryl sighs and still crouched down on his haunches, he turns around towards her. "What do you think?"

Cecily looks at him and then looks down to the cubs, one has sat down, looking up at her, and the other is nosing at something they smell in the grass. She then looks to Daryl again with tears in her eyes and like any dad – like any parent – Daryl can't stand the sight of one of his kids crying; or about to cry. He can admit that he, Daryl Dixon, is never strong when it comes to that.

"But they'll die," she whispers, her chin beginning to tremble.

"Come 'ere," he gently beckons.

Cecily puts the pumpkin down and the steps to Daryl, he wrapping his arms around her, engulfing her, and Cecily's arms go around his neck as she begins to cry. For as much as he likes to think she's a mini-Merle, the truth is, she's a sensitive six-year-old and Daryl – despite his horror at it – loves that she's just like his big brother, but he also loves that even in this kind of world, all of these kids can still be so sweet and innocent about so many things.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that the cub that had been sitting has now launched themselves onto the pumpkin, teething at the stem. Daryl wonders if the cub had been gazing lovingly up at Cecily or at the pumpkin in her arms.

Daryl rubs her back as she keeps crying and he looks to Beth. She's standing at the fire, holding the wooden spoon with both hands to her chest, watching them, looking as torn as he feels.

They're wild black bear cubs. Not pets. No, they can't keep them. And it doesn't have anything to do with Daryl being scared of these things when they grow up to be full-size bears. This isn't like Jack, his and Beth's fox. Jack, for one, had been a _fox_. Wild, yes, but a hell of a lot smaller and he had stayed small. And when they found Jack, he had been hurt. Daryl had had no intention of keeping the fox – having every intention of letting him when he was healed again – but by the time he was all better, Jack was practically like a cat, curling up in his and Beth's laps and following them around everywhere.

Bears – cubs or fully grown – can never be confused for anything other than bears.

But his daughter is crying and Eli is trying to mask how attached he feels to these cubs already and the second cub – the one not gnawing on the pumpkin stem – takes it upon themselves to go to Jack on his sleeping bag and lay down next to him.

"Hey," Daryl pulls his head back and Cecily pulls her head back, too, looking at him with red eyes and a running nose. "We're not keepin' 'em. But we're not tossin' 'em aside either. They follow us when we start headin' home, I'm not gonna stop 'em."

Slowly, Cecily smiles at that and she moves back into him, hugging him again.

It's not what he wants to do, but he figures there's really no harm in it. It's a long way back home and odds are, the cubs will get bored and wander off to be on their own.

"When are we heading home?" Eli asks Beth.

"Tomorrow."

"Already?" Eli wonders and Beth just smiles and reaches out, putting a hand to the back of his head.

She nods. "It's time to go home."

…


	9. Chapter 9

…

As she said she would, Beth played the piano one more time. She now keeps herself outside, packing their wagon up for the journey home and trying not to hear the whack of the ax inside the house as Daryl hacks the piano apart. If the piano has to be torn apart though, Beth much rather prefers it to be her family doing the tearing apart rather than strangers.

Eli and Cecily are inside with their dad and Jack is outside with her; along with the two black bear cubs, who are currently rolling around on the ground, wrestling with one another. Beth still can't believe there are two bear cubs with them. She expected them to leave them during the night as the family slept, but when they all woke up this morning, the cubs were still with them; close to Cecily. Daryl had eaten his breakfast and had watched them, silent as he chewed, but his eyes not missing anything.

"They think you're their new mama," he then said, pointing his fork at Cecily.

The girl's eyes widened at that and then looked to the two small cubs, sitting in front of her, looking at her and no one else; as if waiting to hear what she wanted them to do. "They do?" She looked back to Daryl.

Daryl gave a single nod. "You found 'em and you fed 'em honey and a pumpkin. 's good enough for them."

Cecily promptly named the bear cubs after that though Daryl and Beth still have no idea how they can ever keep two bear cubs as pets. They won't. Bears grow past the cute and cuddly stage and have no place to be cooped up in their fence – with their other, more vulnerable animals. As Daryl said, if the cubs – newly named Biscuit and Gravy – want to follow them back to their mountain, they can. He won't stop them. But Biscuit and Gravy will have to make a home for themselves in the woods. They'll be happier in the woods than in their treehouse.

After eating, Cecily told Biscuit and Gravy to stay outside before she followed Daryl and Eli into the house and the cubs had actually listened to her. Beth can't quite believe it, but she supposes with everything she has already seen in this world, why would two bear cubs attaching themselves to her six-year-old daughter be the most unbelievable thing yet?

As she suspected, there is too much. Daryl had told her that they would get anything she wants to take back with them, but Beth is willing to cut down. Jack helps her as they make two piles – a pile of things definitely coming back with them and a pile of things they just don't need and can be left behind.

Jack makes sure his sister's ice cream scoop is in the pile that will come back with them as is the Gameboy. That's for dad and he bets Spencer, Aaron and Matt will all want to see it, too. It definitely seems like something that would bring back memories. Then, sitting on his butt, he begins taking out every picture from the frames and carefully peeling them out of the photo albums.

Beth has set the cube of Ireland dirt as well as the Pyrex mixing bowl in the pile to take back with them and she leaves her spiral notebooks and the hodgepodge of items Cecily and Eli found in the "leave" pile. They just don't need an empty perfume bottle or even more memory games than they already have. Beth knows that as long as Cecily gets her ice cream scoop, she'll be happy. And Eli just wants a picture of his Uncle Shawn, which there are plenty of in the pile. He has also taken down and rolled up Shawn's Nine Inch Nails poster from his bedroom wall though Eli has obviously never heard them.

"Mama?" Jack looks down at a picture of Grandma Annette. "How come you didn't name any of us after your family?" He wonders and lifts his head to look at her.

Beth gives him a smile. "Your dad and I didn't want to do that because you were your own people and we decided we wanted to give you your own names."

"Aiden's named after Spencer's older brother," Jack then points out.

"He is," she nods. She pauses then and Jack, observant like a Dixon, notices it and he waits for her to continue. She looks at him and gives him a small smile. "When we first met Spencer, he had been living behind a fence too long."

"Like Matt."

"Like Matt," Beth confirms. "Well, Spencer, when your dad and I first met him, he didn't know how to do much. He will tell you that he was scared and weak and before that, _Before_, he lived in the shadow of his older brother, Aiden, and he thought that his brother should have lived instead of him."

Jack frowns at that. "That's sad."

He thinks of Spencer, back home. He's great at fishing – he's the one who taught Aiden – and he's always making everyone smile and laugh; even if they don't want to smile and laugh. Dad has said all of the time that he thinks Spencer is the little brother he never had and Jack can't imagine the family without him.

"It is," Beth agrees. "So when he and Rosita had their baby, they named him after Spencer's older brother as a way of keeping Aiden alive."

Jack is quiet at that, thinking that over, and he begins carefully removing another picture from the photo album open across his lap. "You didn't want to keep any of your family alive?"

Beth is quiet at the question.

She's used to questions. Every day, she is inundated with questions. As the main cook for the family – as well as the one everyone went to for coughs and scrapes – and having been the main teacher for all of the kids' educations, the questions are constant.

But sometimes, one of the kids will ask a question that sounds so innocent, but it steals the breath from Beth's lungs and she struggles with an answer that is as innocent as the anything-but-simple question.

Now, she looks to her son and puts a gentle hand on the back of his head. "There had been so much loss and pain before your dad and I found our home in St. George's and even after that, there was still some loss and pain. We… we never forgot everyone we lost, but we… we couldn't let it take us over because we wouldn't even be able to get out of bed in the morning. We were still alive and we had to move on with our lives."

"So you gave us our own names," Jack finishes.

"Well… your dad and I named _you_ after something. Something very special," Beth then smiles. Jack looks at her, curious and excited. She almost laughs. "The Jack your dad and I knew, he was very brave and very loyal and we loved him very much and he did anything to keep us fed and safe. He was a wonderful hunter and could catch fish within seconds. He attacked without pause – even when we really wished he did pause."

"And his name was Jack?" He is sitting up a little straighter now as Beth describes his namesake and at the memories, Beth smiles wider, and she nods at his question. "Why'd you name _me_ after someone and not Eli or Cecily?"

Beth's smile softens as she looks at him and puts an arm around his shoulders, pulling into her side for a hug.

"Because from the moment you were born, we knew you were going to be strong and brave," she tells him and she knows that that's all Jack ever wants to be.

So often, she thinks of when he was sick and she tried to tell herself that he wasn't going to die. But his fever was so hot and his breath was so labored, she could see his ribs through his skin. She didn't leave his bedside for two days. She didn't eat. She didn't sleep. She couldn't even remember going to the bathroom. The only thing she could do was sit at her son's bed, helping him sip willow bark tea and feel absolutely helpless.

She hadn't even told Daryl, but as she prayed, she had felt a presence right next to her and she knew, without a doubt, that it was her dad.

For a second, as she felt Hershel at her side, Beth was petrified, thinking that her father was there to take Jack. But then, she felt a warmth on her back; as if Hershel had placed his hand there, resting it there and comforting her and with tears on her cheeks, Beth took a shaky breath and held Jack's hand tighter and that night, with snow packed around his body, Jack's fever had finally broken.

Beth and Daryl still don't know how their boy got so sick or what the sickness had been. Beth had poured over their medical books and Mulligan's family's journals, wondering if something like that had ever inflicted anyone before. But she had found nothing. She found things it _could_ be, but not all of the symptoms would line up. She actually thought it was MS – but MS didn't usually inflict someone at Jack's young age.

All they know was that he had gotten so sick, but he had survived because he is a Dixon and a Greene and he is strong. She knows Jack thinks about it, too, in the way that he doesn't want it to be the _only_ thing people remember when they look at him. For only being six, Jack already thinks about that.

But Beth thinks he's amazing and the first Jack would be quite proud of his namesake.

(She has already decided she will tell Jack he's named after a fox when he's a little older than he is now.)

Inside, there is a great crash and a mess of notes smashing together as the piano breaks apart to the ground. Beth winces at the noise and even Biscuit and Gravy stop in their wrestling, their ears perked at the commotion coming from inside the farmhouse.

Jack can feel her slightly tense body next to his. "Don't worry, mama. It's just a piano."

Beth nods though that doesn't exactly make it easier. "You're right."

"And like this, we get to take some of the keys with us so the piano's coming with us in a way."

Beth exhales a breath and looks down to him. "You're right," she says again, able to even smile a little.

Jack beams up at her and then nestles into her side for another hug.

…

Daryl thought it would be harder to leave – at least for Beth – but once the wagon is packed and they make sure they have everything, both in the packs on their backs and in the wagon, the Dixon family – plus two black bear cubs – head off, Beth only looking back at the house once from over her shoulder.

It's a beautiful day – the sun bright and warm, just a couple of clouds in the sky, and Cecily is skipping ahead down the long dirt drive, Biscuit and Gravy, hurrying after her. Watching them as he brings up the rear behind his family, Daryl can't help, but smile a little and shake his head at himself.

"What?" Beth asks, coming to his side, already smiling just because she sees that he is.

Daryl juts his chin out towards Cecily as she skips and laughs ahead of the rest of them, urging Biscuit and Gravy to "Come on, slow pokes!"

"'m jus' imaginin' what it'll be like when you and me aren't around anymore."

"I love that _that _thought makes you smile," Beth smiles.

Daryl smirks. "Imagine us not around anymore, but _they_ are." He nods to the three kids – Cecily and Eli pulling the wagon as Jack walks at his side. "Stories start spreadin' to all of the other people who are still alive 'bout this fearless girl in the mountains with two massive black bears at her side. Girl's already becomin' a legend and she doesn't even know it."

Beth looks to their daughter and she smiles, too. "Despite how more days than not, we complain to one another that those three are killing us, I'm glad their ours."

"Yeah," Daryl shrugs. "They're alrigh'."

She slips her hand into his and he squeezes it, holding onto it. "Thank you for bringing me back here."

Daryl gives a single nod though they both know that's not something she has to thank him for. In all of their years together now, if Beth has learned one thing, it's that Daryl Dixon will do pretty much anything for her.

"You find what you were lookin' for?" He asks, figuring that she must have considering the stacks of Greene family photographs they are taking back with them.

"I did," Beth confirms. "I was finally able to say goodbye."

Daryl looks at her for a long moment and then bringing her hand to his lips, he kisses it, and Beth smiles, leaning in to rest her temple against his bicep.

Cecily spins around then to look at her family, walking backwards, Biscuit and Gravy almost tripping her, but she stays firm on her feet. "Angola," she then states with a wide grin.

"Brazil," Jack is quick to catch on.

"Colombia," Cecily takes her turn.

"Denmark," Eli jumps in.

"Egypt," Beth laughs.

"France!" Jack takes his turn.

"Your turn, daddy!" Cecily calls to him. "You take G!"

Daryl sighs. "Girl, stop your hollerin'."

"Come on, dad," Eli grins. "There's eleven countries that start with G."

Daryl looks to Beth with a frown. "I hate how smart you've made all these kids be."

Beth just laughs and he sighs again, looking at the three kids in front of them. Finally, he answers though he knew right away what his answer was going to be.

"Georgia."

…

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**The End. Thank you so much for reading this one and please take a moment to review!**


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